


If I Told You What I Was

by slingading



Series: I Heard You Liked AUs [8]
Category: Minecraft - Fandom
Genre: F/M, M/M, Temporary Character Death, This came out of nowhere and wouldn’t leave me alone, some mild language and depictions of murder and blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-06-30 12:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19853188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slingading/pseuds/slingading
Summary: Herobrine’s plan to disguise himself as a normal human to get close to Steve and Alex goes really right, and then it goes really wrong. Not necessarily how he’d imagined either.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Imagine Dragons’ Monster

Only now does he see why this is a bad idea.

Now, as Steve and Alex sit just in front of him, lounging in the sun and laughing with each other, as radiant as he’s ever seen them.

Now, when they only know him as Brian and not as their enemy Herobrine.

Now, when he is only a man.

][][][

The idea to disguise himself has come up before, of coure, but he’s always cast it aside. He wants Steve and Alex to know it’s him as he kills them, that he’s bested them yet again and is now free to terrorize as he pleases because of their failure. They would know, when they return, that they have been made fools of.

But lately, Herobrine is faced with a problem.

Steve and Alex are getting...a little too good at defeating him. Every cycle for the last 6 cycles, they’ve bested him. They’ve trapped him, they’ve outplayed him, they’ve made him feel like an idiot, and worse, they’ve laughed at him. It’s infuriating.

Well, not this time. This cycle, he’s going to come out on top, and his plan is foolproof.

He’s practiced a bit, changing his hair and skin and projecting an illusion to make his eyes appear more normal. Eventually he settles on keeping his skin the same but making his hair black and eyes brown. Not too creative but enough to make himself seem like any normal man.

After getting the disguise situated, he tracks them down and follows them. They stopped briefly at a few close towns, but had then traveled for several days through a large forest biome. The only town they could be heading for is Driftwood, so he travels ahead and checks into the inn.

Walking through the town is certainly an experience. He doesn’t get a lot of interaction with people who aren’t Steve or Alex, so walking down the street, watching people smile at him, is a bit of a wake up call. He’ll never deceive Steve and Alex if he can’t play the part of a normal human. He may look like one, but he’s way out of practice.

After finding the inn, he walks inside. The bored looking teen at the counter perks up.

“Hello, welcome in. How can I help you?” She says as she eyes him with a confused look on her face before she smiles.

He hesitates before leaning on the counter. “I need a room...uh, please.” He adds on, grimacing a bit as the girl looks at her computer and taps the keyboard a few times. Gods, this is going to be hard.

“Okay, I have a room available. How long will you be staying for?”

That is a very good question. Damn, he really did not prepare for this. They were maybe two days away? So...

“Uh, a week,” He says, completely unsure of himself.

She nods. “Alright, that’ll be 21 emeralds. And I’ll need a name for your reservation.”

Right. A name. A normal name that a normal human would have. Of course.

He hands her the emeralds and says, “Sure, uh...Brian.” Nailed it.

“Okay, you’re all set. Here’s your key, you’ll be in room 12 on the second floor.” She hands him a key with a tag labeled ‘12’ on it. He takes it and thanks her, then heads over to the stairs. It’s only as he’s unlocking the door that he wonders if she thought it was weird that he didn’t have any luggage.

The room is small but will suit his purposes. He won’t be in it much anyway.

For the 2 days it takes for Steve and Alex to arrive, Herobrine tries to learn how to be a normal human. He walks around, he observes their interactions, he even talks to them, though their mundane everday lives make him want to roll his eyes or puke. Despite how boring and beneath him this whole thing is, he does learn to be a little better. Considering he usually greets Steve or Alex with a sword and wild grin, this will be a thousand times less suspicious.Hopefully.

On the second day, just after noon, he sees them. Steve’s walking with Alex leaning against his side, under his arm. Her face is pained and his concerned, but as a group of friendly strangers meet them, they both smile. He watches as Alex is led to the clinic while Steve heads to the same inn Herobrine had checked in at. Well that’ll make things easy. If nothing else, he can slit their throats as they sleep. Dishonorable, sure, but he’s a little too mad to consider what’s “fair.”

He hadn’t really thought about approaching them separately, and he debates with himself on his next course of action. He could talk to each separate, though when he originally pictured this plan it was with them together. Alex is more cautious, but both are still friendly. Too friendly.

He decides to wait. Either he’ll approach them both, or they’ll approach him.

He’s waiting outside the inn, sitting with his face in his palms thinking about how exactly he’s going to kill them, when he hears, “Are you alright?”

He looks up and its Steve, standing right in front of him. He looks relaxed, if a little concerned, as if he genuinely cares about some random stranger. It’s baffling, how trusting he is. How trusting they both are.

“I’m...fine. Just, a long day.” He doesn’t remember the last time he made small talk with someone.

“Yeah, I know that feeling,” Steve says with a small smile. He holds his hand out. “I’m Steve by the way.”

Herobrine blinks, then returns the handshake. “...Brian.”

“Well, I hope your day gets better. Nice meetin’ ya!” Steve says as he walks away. He smiles again, and it’s the weirdest experience Herobrine has ever had, and he’s had some _really_ weird experiences in his life. Some that he wishes he could blank from his memory.

It only occurs to him in the few minutes after that he could have easily killed Steve. Steve, who had his guard down and wouldn’t have been able to predict some “random stranger” attacking him. Though, Steve is a pretty formidable fighter. Perhaps he still would have prevailed. Yes, it’s better to play the long con, just to wait for the perfect moment.

His plan hits a snag that night. Driftwood sits on the edge of the forest with a wide plain biome in front of it. The immediate area is lit accordingly, and there is a wall protecting the town, but things happen.

Herobrine is lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling when he hears a loud crash followed shortly by a bell chiming. He twists, sitting up and looking out the window. People are running around, most with a weapon of some sort. He sees a few zombies and several skeletons walking into town from a large hole in the wall. A ravager stands just inside the wall, several Illagers running into town, holding weapons up and grinning. A little beyond them, at the base of the wall, a guard is laying dead with an arrow through his chest.

Well, things just got exciting.

][][][

He considers letting the townsfolk sort themselves out, since one thought would either turn the mobs away or turn them into dust, but then he sees Steve following Alex, both holding their weapons, and thinks this could be a chance. Accidents happen in fights, after all, and Illagers are pretty crafty.

He smiles and teleports to the roof. The sound of screaming and the smell of death is like a welcome home as he stands there. Gods, he wishes he could revel.

He summons a normal iron sword and teleports to the ground, in an alley before running out and looking around. More mobs have entered the town, mostly zombies and skeletons but he can see a few creepers. More Illagers have entered too, setting buildings and stalls on fire and creating general chaos.

He shrugs and joins in the fight. Killing mobs isn’t fun anymore, but maybe the Illagers can give him a run for his money, though he doubts it. He hasn’t fought many of them before, though, so maybe they’ll surprise him.

He only haphazardly checks if anyone’s watching as he stabs and slashes his way, almost inhumanly, through mobs. The few Illagers he crosses paths with are almost too drunk on excitement to be proper adversaries. A disappoint, but still better than staring at his ceiling all night long.

Eventually he makes it to the town square. This area is more populated by townsfolk, Illagers, and mobs alike. He spots Steve and Alex as well, holding off Illagers and mobs with practiced ease.

His sightseeing is interrupted by the hiss of a creeper behind him, but before he can do anything, an arrow strikes the creeper in the head, knocking it to the ground. He watches dispassionately as it crumbles into dust, then looks back up. Steve is staring back, bow with another nocked arrow in his hands. He nods and Herobrine nods back, making his way over.

“Not quite what you meant I take it?” He says, once he’s within earshot. Steve smiles wryly.

“No, not quite. You good?” Steve steps closer, keeping his bow half drawn. His eyes don’t stray though, instead steadily gazing at him. Gods, he’ll never get used to this.

“Yes. I’m used to fighting.”

Steve nods. “Good. Then ju—“ Another loud crash, and the Illagers laughing. Steve grimaces. “Brace yourself.”

A ravager stampedes into the town square, knocking into stalls and one unfortunate townsperson who wasn’t paying attention. He goes flying into the air and lands with a crack in the ashes of a burned building. Herobrine watches without emotion but changes his face to reflect some modicum of righteous anger, or some approximation of it. It’s not a feeling he experiences often.

Steve turns away to fight an incoming Illager and back up Alex, who’s enjoying a fight between a zombie and a skeleton riding a spider.

Herobrine does his own thing, not dominating the battle as he could but not taking it easy on the enemies either.

At one point, he wonders aimlessly into a dead end and is boxed in by two Illagers.

“Well well, looks like you’re in a bit of a pickle here. We might be persuaded to help you out for, say, all your emeralds? That sound fair?” He turns to his companion, who grins.

“More than fair.”

“That’s what I thought too. What do you say pal?” The Illager asks, lifting his sword a bit as if Herobrine can’t figure out they mean to rob him no matter his answer.

“How about you walk away and I spare your pathetic lives?” Herobrine rebukes, holding his hands up. “Honestly, you’re both lucky I’m giving you the choice at all.”

They laugh. Okay then.

“Buddy, I don’t think you understand the position you’re in. There’s two of us and one of you. What are you gonna do?” The first Illager sneers.

“Why don’t you come find out?” Herobrine taunts, not bothering to raise his sword. In fact, he throws it to the ground, beckoning them with a hand.

The first Illager eyes his discarded sword then rushes him. His sword raises up, and the Illager yells as he brings it down. Just as the sword is about to slice his face, he catches the blade solidly in his hand. The Illager’s strike is harder than he’d been expecting, but the cut on his hand heals immediately anyway.

Both Illager’s eyes go wide. Oh, it feels good.

Herobrine snaps the blade in half and whips his arm out to embed the broken end into the other Illager. The Illager gasps, clutching at the blade in his gut, before sinking to his knees and crumbling to the ground. The first Illager turns and his eyes go wide. Herobrine steps into his personal space and grips his throat, easily lifting the Illager off the ground.

Sputtering and gasping for breath, the Illager weakly and pathetically claws at his arms, to no effect. The Illager’s arms eventually fall and Herobrine watches the life leave his eyes before dropping the body.

“Disgusting,” He sneers, walking back out of the dead end. The fight is still going strong, but Herobrine has grown tired of this. He speeds through town, stabbing and slashing Illagers and mobs alike. Maybe one or two townsfolk, he can’t be bothered to stop and look.

He makes his way back over to Steve and Alex, seemingly accidentally, and gets there in time to stab an Illager about to hit Alex in the back with a bolt from a crossbow.

Alex whips around but smiles when she sees Herobrine’s blade stabbed clean through the Illager’s midsection.

“Thanks!” She calls out, smiling with a wild look in her eyes. Her hair is falling out of it’s braid and she looks dangerous and beautiful.

Steve comes up next to him. “You good?”

Herobrine pulls his blade out of the Illager and swipes it quickly towards the ground, splattering blood everywhere but somewhat cleaning the blade.

“Good enough. You?”

Steve smiles. “Good enough.” He looks around, sighing. “If it was just mobs, this’d be a lot easier. Illagers always complicate things.”

Herobrine gives a quick look around. He’s killed a lot of Illagers since they’ve invaded, and more are littered about the town square, as well as plenty of townsfolk. He’s surprised to see the ravager dead as well. But more Illagers are alive and pillaging the town, seemingly without end.

He looks up by chance and spots an Illager holding a banner, standing atop the wall and yelling and pointing.

Herobrine nods towards the Illager and Steve follows his gaze. “Ah. The leader.”

“Seems like it.”

Steve glances at him. “Got a plan?”

Herobrine lifts his sword, shifting his grip to hold it in the middle. “Kind of.”

He waits, until the Illager leader turns to bodily face them, then launches the sword like a spear. He doesn’t want it to be obvious that he shouldn’t be able to throw a sword that hard, but maybe he can chalk it up to adrenaline. The sword glides through the air and slides home, slicing cleaning through the Illager’s chest all the way to the hilt. The chaos around them stops—well, the Illagers and townsfolks stop fighting each other while the mobs continue running around. As the leader falls to his knees then tumbles off the wall to land solidly with a wet smack on the ground, the Illagers share looks among each other before a call for retreat is sounded and they run out of town.

The remaining mobs are killed, the hole in the wall is blocked to prevent more mobs from entering, and the fires are put out. Herobrine helps mostly with blocking the wall and killing the mobs. When everything’s settled, he finds himself naturally returning to Steve and Alex’s side.

Alex sees him first and smiles, approaching him to clap him on the shoulder. “That was awesome! You totally skewered that guy!”

“Pretty impressive. You’re a lot stronger than you look, that’s for sure. I also caught a few glimpses of your fights, you almost look like you weren’t even trying,” Steve says, coming up on his other side.

Herobrine shrugs, not quite sure what to say here. “Yeah I’ve...fought a lot.”

“Well it shows.”

“Yeah, you really saved our asses tonight,” Alex comments, moving over to Steve’s side and grabbing his arm. “My name’s Alex by the way.”

He flits his gaze between them. “Brian.”

“It was very nice meeting you Brian. See you around, right?”

Herobrine nods. “Sure.”

Alex smiles and tugs Steve away by the arm. He smiles and waves back at Herobrine, who is standing there in a daze, completely confused and thrown for a loop.

He doesn’t remember how long he stood there, the walk to the inn, or climbing back into bed. He blinks and the next thing he knows, the sun is coming up and bathing his room is a soft yellow glow. Still, he lays there and stares at nothing.

He...doesn’t know what to think. Fighting around them had brought some emotion to the surface, though he can’t identify which. All he knows is that he felt more alive last night than he has in the last several cycles combined.

He also thinks back to Alex, in that moment when he’d found them the second time. She had looked beautiful and Herobrine had never considered that before. As much as they’d fought over the years, he’d never once thought of either of them as anything other than enemies. Part of him is sure nothing could ever happen differently and that’s why the thought never crossed his mind. Part of him thinks, after tonight, maybe there could be something there. He might look different but he didn’t change his personality. He’s already had two separate interactions that didn’t end in blood—well, none of their blood. Maybe...?

He sighs.

Maybe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Herobrine freaks out over some unanticipated information.

When the sun hits his face, he gets up. He showers, he paces around his room, and when his stomach growls, he pauses and looks out the window. Construction on the town is already in full swing, and he can easily spot Steve and Alex in the thick of it.

He doesn’t know what he’s going to say to them, but he still finds himself walking out of the inn and toward their general direction.

He runs into Alex first. She’s wiping sweat off her brow with a raggedy cloth when she spots him. With a bright smile, she bounds over to him.

“Good morning! Sleep well?” She asks, and he wonders how she can seem so genuine, like she actually cares.

“Yes. I was just going to get breakfast.”

Her whole face brightens, if possible. She looks around quickly. Apparently satisfied, she turns back to him.

“Mind if Steve and I join you?”

He honestly doesn’t know whether he minds or not. He didn’t exactly have a plan when he walked out here.

“No.”

“Nice.” She turns around and yells, “Steve!”

“What?” Comes a distant response.

“We’re having breakfast! Get over here!”

There’s no answer, but Steve rounds a corner a few short moments later, wiping his face with what appears to be his shirt. That he’s not wearing.

Like last night when he saw Alex in the midst of a fight, _some_ emotion bubbles up in his chest, but he doesn’t know what. The sun makes Steve’s bronze skin glow, and his smile is positively radiant.

“Brian! What a pleasant surprise! Are you joining us for breakfast?”

“Actually, we’re joining him, so put some clothes on you heathen.”

Steve laughs and tugs on his shirt, though he doesn’t look too happy about it. “Uh, maybe I can meet you guys there? I should probably get a new shirt.”

Alex rolls her eyes but a playful smile creeps onto her face. ”I could help you, if you need it,” She purrs and much to Herobrine’s surprise and complete shock, Alex puts her hands around Steve’s neck and kisses him, square on the mouth.

What the fuck. _What the fuck._

He realizes his mouth is hanging open a little and quickly closes it, just as Steve laughs into the kiss and pulls away from Alex, stepping back. “You’d like that wouldn’t you? Don’t be rude, we have company.”

Alex looks at him in a way that surely implies _something_ that he won’t let himself even begin to consider lest he really start freaking out. For a moment, he wonders if they know he’s actually Herobrine and are deliberately fucking with him now.

“True. Well, you know where to find us. Come on Brian.”

Herobrine watches Steve walk away, giving him a shrug and mouthing ‘sorry,’ before following after Alex. She leads him to the edge of town and into what appears to be a diner.

There diner’s packed, but once they walk in, everyone turns and greets them, a chorus of ‘good morning’s and ‘welcome in’s. Alex returns their sentiment before leading him to an empty booth where they sit across from each other. A waiter makes his way over and hands them both menus.

“Good morning, my name’s Barry. Can I get you anything to drink?”

Herobrine gestures for Alex to go first.

“I’ll have a water and a glass of orange juice.”

“Just water is fine.”

“Alright, I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Barry nods to them before taking his leave.

They study the menu in silence. Barry delivers their drinks, then gives them more time to decide. As he’s walking away, Steve enters the diner, receiving the same fanfare they had, and makes his way over to them, sliding into the booth next to Alex.

Alex pushes the orange juice in front of him and Steve smiles at her. “Thank you.”

She shrugs and passes him her menu. He takes it with a raised brow. “Already know what you’re getting? Usually it takes you a year to decide.”

She playfully nudges him with her elbow. “Please, we both know I’m just going to order the same thing I always do.”

“True,” Steve says, eyes flicking over the menu.

Herobrine realizes he’s been watching them and quickly returns his gaze to the menu. He can’t stop thinking about the fact they they’re—what, together? Since when? Have they always been together? The whole time? How did he never notice that? Well, ignoring the fact that every time he saw them, he pretty much immediately attacked them. Still, he should have seen _some_ indication of a relationship.

His eyes wander unseeing over the menu. Nothing looks particularly appetizing, but it’d be weird if he didn’t eat anything. It doesn’t take much to sustain him. He settles on eggs and toast. Something simple.

As he puts the menu down, he finds his gaze drawn back to them. They look so relaxed. So soft and...and normal. Like they aren’t the fiercest warriors the Overworld has. Like they can’t go face-to-face with him and win countless times over. They don’t even seem real.

He wonders if he’s actually asleep and dreaming this whole experience.

“—rian?”

“Hm?” He blinks, realizing he spaced out.

Steve smiles knowingly. “Thinking of last night?” His hands are folded in front of him, but what’s really interesting is Alex’s hand, curled delicately over Steve’s forearm. Barely a touch and yet it comes off as intimate. Geez, there’re signs all over the face. He’s not fully convinced they aren’t doing it on purpose to mess with him.

He licks his lips, blurting out his question before he can change his mind. “Are you two involved?”

Steve gives him a strange look. “Involved?”

Herobrine can’t exactly articulate what he means. He’s not even sure why he asked. Instead he gestures between them.

“Oh. We’re married, if that’s what your asking.”

Married.

“Married?”

“Yep.” Alex rests her left hand, the one not wrapped around Steve’s arm, on the table. Steve moves his left hand to be in front of him as well. Sure enough, both of them are wearing rings on their ring fingers. Steve’s is a simple gold band. Alex has a line of diamonds embedded in her gold band.

“It’s been, what, seven years now?” Steve shakes his head and chuckles. “Seems like it was only yesterday.”

“Maybe to you.” Alex leans closer to Herobrine. “You have no idea what I’ve had to deal with,” She stage whispers. Steve nudges her and she leans back, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Oh Gods.

_Oh Gods_ they really are married. Holy shit. This had _not_ occurred to him before, but he should have anticipated that their time together, undoubtedly bonding over having to deal with him, would make them close. But still, close enough for _marriage!?_

The conversation is stifled by the arrival of their food. He wasn’t that hungry before, despite his stomach’s earlier protest, and he finds himself even less so now.

There’s no reason for their relationship to bother him. If anything, it’s to be expected. And, he can use them against each other even more effectively than he has in the past. Them being married should be good news.

He manages a few bites but quickly pushes the plate away. Even simple eggs and toast is too much for his stomach.

“Something wrong?” Steve asks, because of course he noticed.

Herobrine grimaces. “Not as hungry as I thought, I guess.”

Alex buts in. “I don’t want this to seem weird, but last night I saw you entering the inn through our window. Are you just passing through?”

“Yes. I’ve been here for, hm, four days now? Not sure when I’ll leave but, eventually I’ll head back out.”

Steve and Alex share a look, then both turn to him at the same time. “I don’t want to seem forward, but you really impressed us last night. If you don’t have plans, how about you travel with us?”

Herobrine would smile, if he didn’t feel so thrown off right now. This is exactly what he wanted and yet...

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to impose, or anything.” _What are you doing you idiot! This is what you wanted!_

Alex smiles slowly, and it makes him shiver. “Trust me, you won’t be imposing. We’re offering, after all.”

Herobrine looks between them and realizes they’re serious and that he’s outnumbered. He acquiesces.

“Okay. If you insist.”

The rest of the day passes by in a blur. He helps the town rebuild, sticking close to either Steve or Alex or both of them. Most of the damage is fixed by the time the sun goes down. The wall was the first thing repaired, so they don’t have to worry about mobs entering the town. Illagers are another matter, but with how high their casualties were, they won’t be a threat for a while.

They decide to retire at the same time, since mostly everything requiring heavy lifting and teamwork is done. The townsfolk will be able to manage from here.

“Tomorrow we’ll have breakfast again then we’ll head out. That sound okay?” Steve asks him, all three of them standing in front of the inn.

“Yes, that sounds fine. Have a...good night,” He says, somewhat hesitantly. Gods, he doesn’t think he’s _ever_ said that to anyone.

“You too man. See you tomorrow.”

Herobrine does not sleep that night. He stares at the ceiling, at the walls, at the sparse decorations in the room. He stares and he thinks.

In all the years he’s been alive, terrorizing the Overworld and fighting with Steve and Alex, he’s never seen humans rebuild so...enthusiastically. He’s destroyed so many towns and villages in his life, uncaring of what or who he strikes down in his rampages. These humans had buildings burned and loved ones killed, and yet, only a day later, they’re smiling and thanking each other and continuing with life, as strong as ever. He always thought humans were weak, and though they are, physically, their strength, which Steve and Alex always argue with him on, isn’t physical, is it? It’s their connections, their determination to continue living even when life seems hopeless. In a way, they’re stronger than he is.

He sighs, thoughts turning towards Steve and Alex. He hadn’t accounted for actually _liking_ them. Having known them for years, he’s only now realizing that he’s never really known them at all. They’re married, for Notch’s sake. For seven years. Probably longer, if he thinks about it. Considering they think he’s a normal man, they’ve probably been married for something like 70 years, or even longer. Geez.

He still imagines all the ways he can kill them, but he finds he doesn’t have the drive to carry it out nor does he want to.

Standing up, he walks over to the simple vanity in his room. He looks at himself, switching between his normal appearance and his disguise. He can’t keep the disguise up all the time, eventually he’ll slip up and forget about something, or if he’s ever knocked unconscious his disguise will fade. There’s too many variables to his plan that he hadn’t considered or even thought about. Maybe it would be better to just vanish and avoid them for the rest of this cycle. Sooner or later, fate or destiny or probably Notch himself will force them together to fight and choose a winner for the cycle, but he’ll make the peace last as long as he can.

][][][

The rest of the night passes slowly as Herobrine debates with himself over and over again the best course of action. The sun rises though, seemingly days later, and Herobrine gets up and...realizes he doesn’t have a travel pack. That will definitely seem weird.

He focuses on his home—well, his bunker where all his stuff is—and teleports to it. He must have been farther from it than he thought, as he appears on the bedrock floor and falls to a knee, breathing heavily. Teleporting is handy for short distances, but the strain is enough to make him vulnerable if he overdoes it.

Taking a few deep breaths, he pushes himself to his feet and rifles through the many chests scattered in this bedrock room. He finds a pack he’s probably never used and throws some miscellaneous travel-like items in there. Bottles of water, bread and dried meat, torches, extra clothes, and potions of health are all shoved in the pack, and he actually pops open one of the potions and downs it before taking a deep breath and teleporting back into his room at the inn. Even the potion isn’t enough to stop the wind from being knocked out of him. He takes deep breaths, on his hands and knees and feeling pathetic for no particular reason.

After several minutes, he feels normal enough to stand. He makes sure his disguise is on, gritting his teeth as it takes longer for the illusion to become believable. Exactly his worry—it won’t be possible to sustain the disguise for long enough.

He makes his way downstairs. He gets some emeralds back for not staying a full week, then walks outside. As he does, he sees Steve and Alex walking a little in front of him, towards the diner.

“Steve! Alex!” He calls out, catching up to him. They turn when called and both smile, something Herobrine will never get used to. Even in a hundred years, he’s sure he won’t be used to it.

“Good morning Brian. Great timing,” Steve greets, a little flustered. His face is flushed and next to him, Alex smiles in a way Herobrine thinks is both sensual and secretive. She winks at him. It’s almost enough to make him trip over his own feet.

They have a quick breakfast during which Herobrine manages to eat like a normal person, and when they finish, Steve and Alex lead him to the edge of the town, waving at all the townsfolk along the way. Herobrine gets the feeling the people are waving to him as well, but he doesn’t wave back. He feels shame come over him, remembering the few townsfolk he struck down two nights ago, completely uncaringly as he just killed everything in his path. The worse part is that he doesn’t remember how many or how he did it. Knowing him, they probably suffered.

Once they’re out of the town, Steve starts walking southeast with purpose and it only now occurs to Herobrine that they have a specific destination in mind.

“If you don’t mind my asking, where are we going?”

“Eventually we’re going to head towards Rust, but first we’re going to take a detour to an Illager outpost,” Steve says.

Herobrine raises his brows. “The one’s from two nights ago?”

Alex nods. “Yep. We’re not really in the business of leaving things like they were. You were brilliant, taking down the leader the way you did. But that’s not always good enough. Illagers are smart, they know we won’t be at that town forever, and they’ll attack again. We find it better to nip the problem at the bud, so to speak.”

It’s a little darker than Herobrine would have thought them capable of, but it’s really just becoming clear that he doesn’t know them at all. It’s more along the lines of something he would do. That funny feeling is back but he pushes it away, to the back of his mind. He doesn’t want to think about what kind of person that makes him. They’re talking about killing Illagers in a revenge plot and he’s, what, excited?

_Get a grip._

It doesn’t take long to get to the outpost. Illagers are milling about, some fighting with each other, some sleeping in the shade. There’s a general order to their chaos, but nothing indicating a patrol or lookouts. They probably don’t expect anyone to challenge them, especially on their own turf.

They sneak around to the north side of the outpost, which is partially on a small hill. Still, the higher ground gives them an advantage. There’s one Illager at the top, sleeping in the shade. Steve tsks and Alex sighs.

“One day they’ll learn,” Alex comments, pulling out a dagger. Steve shakes his head.

“I doubt it.”

Then, without preamble, Alex straddles the Illager, covers his mouth with her hand, and slices the dagger across his neck. The Illager startles awake but its a losing fight. Alex keeps her hand firmly on the Illager’s mouth until his body stops moving. Then, she wipes her blade clean on the Illager’s shirt and stands, sheathing the dagger.

What. The. Fuck.

Alex notices his stare and expression. She shrugs. “We don’t really have any tolerance for people who choose to do evil. They don’t deserve it.”

Before, he would bet his life that neither Steve nor Alex would ever attack a defenseless adversary. He always thought they were honorable or noble or some other weakness like that, always giving their enemy a fair fight.

Now, he wonders if these are the same two people he’s fought his entire life. It’s like their completely different from the idea he’s had of them in his head.

Steve, busy watching the various Illagers muck about, says, “Okay, we’ll split up. Alex, you stay up here and use your bow. I’ll take the left and Brian, you can take the right. We’ll circle around then take the inside together. Ready?”

Herobrine pulls his sword out of his belt, dropping his pack as well. Shaking off the strange feeling that came about when Alex killed that defenseless man, he allows the adrenaline to flood his veins, making his heart race. Even against Illagers, the prospect of a fight still gets him excited. “Yes.”

They split up. He has to be mindful though, as Alex is their eye in the sky and might catch anything he does, if he’s not careful. Still, with how many Illagers were killed during their raid on the town, and the surprise attack, Herobrine is sure he’d be able to fight them blindfolded and with one arm tied behind his back. They also haven’t replaced their leader yet, as conflicting orders start being called out, once the Illagers are aware of what’s happening. Unfortunately for them, Alex doesn’t miss a shot.

He makes it to the front of the outpost the same time as Steve. Steve’s got a shallow cut on his cheek but otherwise seems fine.

They both approach the door to the outpost at the same time, and Steve silently counts down to one from three, and on one Herobrine kicks the door in a little harder than he meant to, sending it flying into the room and hitting an Illager. The distraction is enough to allow them into the room where five Illagers are waiting for them, two with crossbows. One of the crossbow Illagers accidentally fires a bolt that would have hit Steve in the side by complete chance, but Herobrine intercepts the bolt with his sword, sending it into the wall instead. Steve nods at him in thanks, and they proceed to cut the Illagers down.

The Illager that was struck by the door scrambles up the stairs and they hear shouting. The last of the Illagers should be in the upstairs room, but there won’t be a door to kick in this time.

Steve pokes his head up the stairs but instantly ducks as four bolts embed into the wall where his head had been.

“Well, that’s a no go.”

Herobrine looks around and notices the open gaps doubling as windows. Big enough to crawl through. He gets Steve’s attention and nods to them. Steve follows his gaze and nods in agreement.

“You go,” He whispers. “I’ll keep their attention on the stairs so you can get behind them.”

He climbs out the window and scales the building. Another round of bolts thuds into the wall, followed by Steve’s laughter.

“Come on boys, don’t make this any harder for yourselves.”

“Fuck you!”

“Well, no need to be hostile.”

Herobrine makes sure Alex can’t see him and Steve is still in the downstairs room before just teleporting into the room. He stabs one through the throat, the Illager’s dying gurgles drawing the others’ attention.

“Fuck! How’d he get in here!?”

“Turn you idiots, kill him!”

Herobrine dodges two bolts and deflects a third. He rolls and picks up the crossbow from the Illager he’d stabbed, firing a bolt somewhat blindly and managing to get one of the other crossbow Illagers in the hand, making him drop the crossbow. That’s two crossbows down, two to go.

Fully distracted, the Illagers don’t see when Steve bounds up the stairs and stabs one of the other crossbow Illagers. He catches the crossbow as it falls and fires quickly at the last Illager, who falls to the ground dead with a bolt through his head.

Herobrine kicks a crossbow away from him as Steve comes up to him to clap him on the back, smiling. “Dude, you were amazing! Nice idea with the windows.”

“Thank you,” Herobrine says, and it doesn’t feel too weird.

Perhaps there’s hope yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Alex make Herobrine an offer. Herobrine makes a big mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little longer, I was hit with ideas but I hadn’t planned this to be that long so I was working on how to add them in. Next chapter shouldn’t take as long.
> 
> Enjoy!

After that, they travel for a long time, far longer than Herobrine originally envisioned. He still thinks about killing them occasionally, but the ideas are abstract, half formed, and quickly cast aside. There are moments when they are vulnerable, when they don’t suspect anything and their backs are to him. When he takes the first watch at night. When he’s helping one of them climb a steep cliff. When he kills a mob that surely would have fatally wounded one of them.

When Alex kisses his cheek for the first time as Steve is talking to a blacksmith.

When Steve rests his head on Herobrine’s shoulder at night as they watch a fire, Alex sleeping off to the side.

When Steve and Alex are lounging in the sun and laughing and look back and invite him to join them.

Fuck, he’s so screwed.

A month after that, and 6 months total into their journey together, Herobrine seriously contemplates either getting it over with and killing them, or coming clean. These last 6 months have been the best of his life, and he thinks back to the bedrock room that has all his stuff and feels—nothing. No happiness, no sadness, just...nothing. What kind of life is that?

As far as he knows, these cycles are forever. Either he has died during one, or they have, but every cycle has had a death. And then, a random number of years later, they’re back and ready to start all over again.

But why? Would it be possible to avoid each other? To live a different life? Or maybe, would it be possible to live together with them?

He used to revel in the hunt, in their fear when it all started, when the Overworld was different. He enjoyed finding, fighting, and killing them. He looked forward to it even, when he woke up in his bed in that bunker, ready and rearing to go.

He sighs, adjusting his position briefly. He’s laying with his head on his pack, hands folded on his stomach as he watches the stars through the treetops. Alex is sleeping next to him, one of her arms thrown over his waist in her sleep. Steve is on the other side of her, facing away, though he knows Steve and Alex’s legs are touching.

They always do that, gravitate toward each other, as if they can’t go 5 minutes without some sort of contact. And lately, Herobrine has felt that impulse as well. When Alex is nearby he’ll nudge her with his elbow, or gently touch her arm or lower back. With Steve it’s usually a touch on his upper back, or knee if they’re sitting. And they too touch him, a causal pat here, a caress during a quiet moment there. It’s both a saving grace and his damnation.

He doesn’t know what to do.

][][][

Alex has been acting strange today. Not in a bad way, per say, but oddly happy with a pep to her step. She skips in front of him and Steve as they walk, even humming to herself.

“Is something wrong with her?” He asks, leaning closer to Steve with a low voice.

“No, she gets like this sometimes.”

“Boys!”

They both look at her. She’s standing with her hand on her hip, pointing down a hill to their right. “Looks like a lucky break. What do you say?”

Herobrine follows her finger to see a lake. Small, but surrounded by trees and fairly secluded.

“You wanna go swimming? Now?” Steve asks, eyeing the lake with trepidation.

Alex comes over to them and puts an arm around each of their necks, drawing them in close. As has been happening recently, Herobrine feels warmth spread across his cheeks. Aside from not being used to close contact, his...feelings towards the both of them make him less sure of each touch.

“No better time, right? The sun’s out, no clouds, plus we never get to spend time together like this.”

“We spend time together literally every single day,” Steve points out.

Alex huffs. “No, I mean, we never spend time together while relaxing! We’re always going here or going there or meeting with someone. We never just chill out. So come on!”

Steve relents easily, of course, probably never really intending to deny her anyway. When Alex looks at Herobrine, he is powerless to do anything other than nod.

She lets them go and lifts her fist in victory. “Yes! Woohoo!” She runs down the hill, shedding her pack, weapons, and clothes as she goes.

“I guess she really wants to go swimming,” Steve says, as the two of them follow after her. Steve picks up her pack and weapon belt, setting them against a tree before returning for her clothes. He folds them neatly, then starts removing his own pack and clothing.

Herobrine, having never ‘hung out’ with anyone before, awkwardly looks away. He’s relieved to see that Alex only took off her outer clothes and left her bra and underwear on. He doesn’t know what he would have done if she’d removed everything. Died of heatstroke, probably, given the heat of his cheeks already.

“Are you going to join us?” Steve asks, folding his clothes just as neatly next to Alex’s. Like her, he’d left on his underwear. Thank the Gods for small mercies.

“I—Yes,” He says, grabbing the bottom of his shirt but not pulling it off yet. Steve raises a brow.

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” He says kindly. It’s hard to look him in the eye and not let his gaze stray south, where, in his peripheral, he can see taut, bronzed skin. He’s lucky his skin doesn’t show a blush too well, because his face is on fire. He wouldn’t be surprised if he spontaneously combusted at any moment.

“No no, I don’t mind, I’ve just never swam without a...bathing suit...on...” That’s not a weird claim, right? It sounds weak to his own ears. Believe it or not, swimming’s never been a ‘top 10 must do’ activity for him.

“Really? Alex and I skinny-dip all the time, it’s actually really enjoyable, but we wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Steve looks at Alex with exasperated fondness. “I’m glad she at least remembered to keep some clothes on. I swear, that woman...”

Herobrine does his best to _not_ picture them swimming naked together. It’s not easy—his mind immediately conjures images of them pressed together, skin shining and slick—

_Get a hold of yourself man!_

He shakes his head, finally pulling his shirt off. He doesn’t have anything to be bashful about; whatever magic or ‘divine intervention’ that brings them back from death, it assures a perfect body—no scars, no loss of weight or muscle, no change. Nothing to hide.

...Except, injuries acquired after being brought back. He has one noticeable scar on the left side of his waist, given to him by a wither skeleton. He hadn’t been paying attention and it had only grazed him, but left a pretty nasty looking scar.

“What happened—If you don’t mind my asking,” Steve asks, gesturing to his side when Herobrine looks at him.

“Ah, an unfortunate encounter with a wither skeleton.”

Steve sucks in air through his teeth, grimacing. “Yeah, those guys suck. Alex and I have fought with them before and they’re no joke.”

Herobrine feigns interest, removing the rest of his own clothing, save his underwear. “You’ve been to the Nether?”

“Once or twice,” Steve says, though Herobrine knows he’s downplaying. He feels a little guilty now, lying. It’s weird knowing things about them that they don’t know he knows. Out of all his lies, letting something slip that he shouldn’t know is what’s going to end up getting him in hot water, he just knows it.

They walk to the edge of the lake. Steve immediately wades into the water and joins Alex. Herobrine hesitates, standing only ankle deep.

The water is _freezing_.

For whatever reason, his internal temperature and general tolerance to heat is absurdly high. So high that point blank contact with lava hardly bothers him. As such, he prefers hotter biomes, like deserts and mesas and savannas. Even jungles with their high humidity are like a walk through the park on the perfect sunny day.

This lake feels like ice against his skin. If he had to definitively answer what his greatest weakness is, he’d go with cold.

“Are you joining or what!” Alex yells, using Steve’s shoulders as a perch. The sun hitting her wet skin makes her positively shine. He shuffles a little farther in, grimacing.

“I don’t do well with cold,” He says lamely. Jeez, now that he thinks about it, what a stupid weakness. He’s sure a baby could handle this lake better than he currently is.

“You think this is cold?” Alex has a little lilt to her smile that Herobrine would very much like to slap off her face. Or kiss. Either would work.

“I run very hot.”

“You can say that again,” Alex mutters, low enough that normally, only Steve would have heard her. He hears it anyway, thanks to his enhanced senses.

“Behave,” Steve mutters back. He shoves her off his shoulders and into the water.

Herobrine decides to sit on the beach, close enough so the water grazes his legs every so often, content to watch Steve and Alex engage in a splash fight. He notices, as absurd as it is considering what they’re doing, that they’re holding back. _What_ they’re holding back, he has no idea, but they’re definitely ‘pulling their punches,’ so to speak.

After a solid hour of general goofing around, Alex and Steve exit the water and lay on the sand to dry. Herobrine joins them, laying next to Alex, despite his overall dryness. It only takes a few minutes for them to dry.

As Steve gets up to grab their clothes—really, the man is too kind—Alex scooches closer to him and slips her hand into his, sighing and pillowing her head on his shoulder. The heat he feels in his face and chest have nothing to do with the sun shining on them.

“I’m glad you’re with us,” She says quietly, giving his hand a small squeeze. He can hardly breathe, with her so close.

He manages to squeeze her hand back. “Me too.”

][][][

Steve and Herobrine stand at the entrance to a cave. Torches light a fair amount of the beginning of the cave, but the rest is swathed in complete darkness—a promise of danger.

Herobrine has never had the need to mine much. His weapons and tools were obtained from looting towns and villages or stealing them from the people he killed. Mining for resources never crossed his mind.

The prospect of being in a dark, confined space rife with danger doesn’t scare him, but the prospect of being down there with Steve does. Any number of things could go wrong, for either of them. Caves are dangerous and usually only explored by experienced miners and adventurers for a reason.

Still, it would be weird if he didn’t accompany Steve. Since Alex claimed to have a headache, he had unthinkingly offered to go in her place. She had smiled and agreed, deciding to make camp for the night, though they still had several hours until nightfall.

Now that he’s standing at the entrance, he can’t help but think of what a bad idea this is. Without using too much power, he can already sense the dozens of mobs standing in the dark, waiting for unsuspecting and inexperienced travelers to wander close.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when Steve hands him a bunch of torches.

“Have you done a lot of caving?” Steve asks.

“No, I can’t say that I have.”

“It’s not so bad. The key is to make a path back to the entrance, otherwise you can easily get lost. So any torches you put down, put them down on your right. That way, you’ll only need to keep them on your left to find your way out. Easy.”

Steve looks at him. “Ready?”

Herobrine looks into the darkness in the cave and hopes with all his being that nothing goes wrong.

“As ever.”

The beginning isn’t that bad. Most of the start of the cave is already lit, but Steve leads them quickly into the thick of it. Every 10 or so feet, Steve lights a torch and puts it on the wall, marking their progress and creating a path back to the surface. Herobrine shuffles along behind him, feeling every mob within 50 feet and subtly willing them to either stay put or fuck off. He’s afraid to use too much power though, in case Steve looks back at him and sees Herobrine and not Brian.

So far the cave has had a gentle slope down into the earth, but they reach an impasse in the form of a steep drop. Down at the bottom, the cave is illuminated. Lava most likely, considering how hot it’s starting to get.

“We’ll have a dig some of the way down,” Steve says, eyes tracking back and forth to find the fastest way down. “Then we should be able to climb.”

Not for the first time, Herobrine curses human limitation. He could easily jump to the bottom and be fine.

Instead he helps Steve dig a slanted path down, until they get a little more than halfway down. They then use footholds to climb the rest of the way down.

At the bottom, the cavern is a lot larger than it had seemed from the top, almost like it’s manmade. Lava oozes from parts of the walls into small puddles, both lighting and heating up the space. To Herobrine, the temperature is pleasant, given his proclivity to fire and lava. Steve, however, is definitely feeling the heat, given the sweat starting to drip down his face.

“Wow it’s hot down here,” Steve comments, eyeing the lava with disdain. “Of course there has to be lava.”

Herobrine pats him on the shoulder. “Nothing can be easy, hm?”

Steve snorts, pulling out the torches from his pack. “You have no idea. Let’s light the dark spaces just in case and then we’ll get to work.”

Steve goes one way, and Herobrine the other. They meet on the other side of the cavern, which is now sufficiently lit.

“That should do it,” Steve says, stashing his torches then pulling his pick axe out of its holder on his belt. “I’m thinking maybe 15 iron ore each should about do it. We should be low enough to find diamonds as well, so look out for them too.”

Herobrine nods. Steve picks a random wall and starts digging, so Herobrine does the same.

He reigns in his desire to swing as hard as he can. He’s pretty sure he can do some serious damage to stone walls, but Steve would _definitely_ find that suspicious. Still, he slips a couple times and hits a little harder than he means too, but he’s far enough into the wall that he can’t see Steve anymore, so he should be safe.

The mining becomes repetitive after a while, at least until he notices the extremely concentrated heat behind the wall in front of him. Too bad he notices it too late—his pick axe is already embedded into the wall when he realizes that lava is on the other side.

“Well—shit,” He mutters, slowly pulling his pick axe out. As soon as the pick leaves the stone, lava squirts out, hitting his shirt immediately.

“Ah—shit—fuck!” He curses, throwing his pick axe down and yanking his shirt off. Lava won’t hurt him, but his clothes are unfortunately not immune. His shirt quickly burns to ashes, filling the small corridor with smoke.

Coughing and waving his hand to disperse the smoke, he hears a faint explosion. He whips around and freezes, focusing on where he thinks Steve’s general direction is. He hears skeleton bones rattling and the fainter moan of an approaching zombie.

Heart in his throat, he runs out of his tunnel and back to the cavern. He gets there in time to see a skeleton turn into Steve’s dug out tunnel.

“Steve!” He yells, rushing toward the tunnel. His blood’s roaring in his ears, drowning out everything else except the sound of that skeleton’s bones. He doesn’t have time to think about how extreme his reaction to seeing Steve potentially in danger is. On instinct, he summons a diamond sword.

There had definitely been a creeper explosion, given the chipped and damaged look of the stone. Steve seems to be fairing alright against the skeleton, deflecting arrows with his sword somewhat sloppily. Herobrine doesn’t hesitate to lunge forward and jab the skeleton through its spine, tearing it easily in two. As the skeleton is disintegrating, he hears a hiss and a moan and turns his attention to the entrance of the tunnel, where a zombie is trying to climb over another creeper to get to them.

He feels a black rage sweep over him. His eyes burn as he uses his power to ignite the creeper on fire from the inside, causing it to explode. The zombie gets smashed into the wall, crumbling to the ground. On weak arms, it tries to stand and when that doesn’t work, starts crawling closer. Herobrine stalks up to it and stabs it repeatedly, teeth bared, until it’s reduced to a pile of barely recognizable bones and guts.

He’s breathing heavily when he turns back to Steve, who’s now sitting against the stone and holding a hand to his head, blinking blearily at him. Herobrine notices blood on his hand but can’t see a wound anywhere. He walks closer, sending his sword away, but stops dead when Steve scrambles to a stand on shaky legs and holds his sword out.

“Get—Get away,” He says, but he sounds pained. Confused, Herobrine steps closer but Steve swipes at him, missing completely and then falling to his knees when his legs give out. He brings his hand up again, this time to the back of his head, and when he pulls his hand back it’s coated in fresh blood. A head wound—the first creeper must have knocked him into the wall.

Despite his obvious confusion and pain, Steve still tries to get his sword between them, but from the looks of him, he’s going to pass out any moment. Steve’s sword tilts at just the right angle for Herobrine to see a flash of white and—

Oh.

_Oh_.

He looks like himself again.

He’s been preoccupied with the sudden danger and let his disguise slip—to Steve who is most likely concussed. No wonder Steve’s so hostile. Well—shit.

Now what? If he had found Steve hurt in a cave 7 months ago he would have gladly finished the job, but everything is different now. The thought of Steve being hurt is bad enough, but the thought of being the one to cause that pain is almost unbearable. He isn’t that person anymore.

He puts his hands up non-threateningly and walks closer. Steve shuffles back until he’s pressed against the stone and holds his sword with both hands, pointed directly at him. It shakes badly in his grip.

“I’m—I’m serious, get away,” Steve stutters, gaze determined if not a little glassy.

Herobrine debates talking at all. Steve will pass out soon, no doubt, and then he can...well, he’ll think of something. So he keeps quiet and stops just out of Steve’s reach. Steve watches him wearily, eyes steady despite his fading consciousness. He watches as Steve’s gaze drops and confusion washes over his features. Steve’s mouth opens but he doesn’t say anything, and then, after several heavy blinks, he finally lowers the sword and slumps over, out cold.

Herobrine lets out a breath. Jeez, that had been close. He takes a few moments to breath and calm his racing heart, then steals himself as he teleports to his base to grab a new shirt and a potion of healing. He’s forced to wait a few more moments, as his base is farther away than ever and teleporting back to the cavern immediately will probably rob him of his consciousness too. When he feels recovered enough, he grits his teeth and teleports back. It’s almost enough to drop him to his knees, but he powers through it, kneeling by Steve’s side to check him over.

There isn’t much he can do for Steve’s head injury. Luckily it doesn’t appear to be an emergency. The blood is from a small lesion, the real problem being the bump. He’d probably been surprised by the creeper and thrown into a wall when it exploded.

It would be too suspicious if he used the entire healing potion, so he only pours a sip’s worth into Steve’s mouth; enough to heal the wound on a superficial level and most likely bring him back from unconsciousness, but not much else. After giving Steve the potion, he teleports the bottle away.

He only has to wait a few seconds before Steve shifts and groans. Herobrine double checks that he indeed looks like Brian again, before saying, “Steve? Are you alright?”

Steve blinks his eyes open, squinting up at him. “B-Brian? What—?”

“I heard a creeper explosion and came to investigate. When I got here you were passed out on the floor. Are you alright?” He asks again, helping Steve sit up.

Steve looks around and at him with visible confusion. “I thought...were there other mobs?”

Herobrine shakes his head. “There was a spider back in the cavern,” He lies, “But I took care of that easily enough.” His heart is going to beat out of his chest at this rate. If this works it’ll be a miracle. He can’t believe he’d been foolish enough to lose control like that.

Steve is clearly struggling to accept what Herobrine’s telling him versus what he thinks he saw just a few minutes earlier. Steve eventually shakes his head, wincing and bringing a hand up to the bump on the back of his head. “I remember the creeper but...I guess I—I imagined everything else.” He moves to stand but hisses, squeezing his eyes shut. “Gods, my head hurts.”

Herobrine turns around and gestures to his back. “Come on, climb on. Let’s get out of here and get you to Alex. I can come back to get the iron.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Steve says, but he climbs on. Herobrine notices the brief hesitance in his actions and the odd look on his face, but thinks nothing of it. Steve is out of his mind right now.

“I want to.” He stands carefully and makes his way out of the cave. It takes longer than he would have liked, considering he has to dig a path to the top of that steep cliff they had originally climbed down, but eventually he makes it to the mouth of the cave and then back outside. The fresh, cool air is a welcomed respite.

Alex rushes over to them when she sees them approach.

“What happened?” She asks, concern written all over her face as Herobrine kneels and lets Steve off his back. She cradles Steve’s cheek and he closes his eyes, leaning into her hand.

“Creeper,” Is all Steve says. Alex tsks.

”All these years and one little creeper gets you. What would they say back at home?” Alex says, her tone a mix of concern and teasing.

Steve opens his eyes just to roll them, wincing. “Oh whatever, like you’ve never had a creeper sneak up on you.”

”Did you manage to find any ore?” Herobrine asks.

Steve sighs, looking up at him with an expression Herobrine can’t place. Almost like he’s seeing him for the first time. He blinks several times, then says, “Uh, only like, three. I had just found a patch when that creeper got me.”

“Better than nothing. All I found was lava,” Herobrine says, placing a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Just rest, I’ll be back in a bit.” Steve gives him another strange look, which Herobrine also chalks up to the head trauma, but nods.

He heads back down into the cave, leaving Alex to fuss over Steve. He makes the trip a lot easier and quicker than before, given his lack of company. He doesn’t bother mining, instead teleporting to his bunker. He immediately drops to his knees and groans, wrapping his arms around his midsection. He feels like his blood is boiling, and his stomach threatens to crawl its way out of his throat. He sits there and curses existence, then stands with a grimace and shoves a bunch of iron ore into his pack. He has enough to cover all their weapons and tools and probably more. He doesn’t head back just yet though, both because it’s been too little time and because he might actually pass out if he teleports such a long distance so soon again.

When he thinks enough time has feasible passed for him to have collected all the ore he has, he teleports back. His body tingles unpleasantly, like everything’s fallen asleep, but it fades quickly. Still, he swears off teleporting long distances for the foreseeable future.

As he’s walking through the cave, he passes through a section that’s a little more dim than the rest and realizes that there’s a light source that shouldn’t be there.

He pauses and lifts his hand to his face. He can see it brightened by white light.

Dread trickles down his spine as he brings his pick axe to his face to see his reflection. His eyes are white and illuminated.

He frowns.

This might be a problem. He focuses and the illusion passes over his eyes again, but that’s twice in way too short a period of time. At this rate, his secret will be out in no time, and with his luck, it’ll be at the worst time possible.

He exits the cave—stopping one last time to double check his disguise out of pure paranoia—and makes his way to the small camp Alex set up. A fire is going, and Steve is laying with his head on Alex’s lap as she runs her fingers through his short hair.

Alex easily spots his approach. “Have any luck?”

Herobrine drops his pack quietly, then sits on the other side of the fire, sighing. “Plenty to fix all our weapons and tools. No diamonds though.”

He leans back on his hands and relaxes, closing his eyes.

“That’s okay,” He hears Alex say with a breathless laugh. It goes silent again.

Then, “Thanks for bringing him back safely.”

Herobrine opens his eyes and looks at Alex. She’s still running her fingers through Steve’s hair—who is sleeping, Herobrine realizes—but she’s directing a gentle, soft smile his way.

He looks away, glad the sun has set and the darkness hides his blush. “Of course. I...I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if anything worse happened. I already feel guilty for not noticing the danger sooner.”

If he hadn’t been so distracted by the lava, he would have been able to sense that creeper, he knows it. And while Steve is a capable fighter, Herobrine still feels like he failed, somehow.

”You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. Creepers have a reputation for a reason. I’m just glad you were there to help him.”

Herobrine doesn’t respond, letting a comfortable silence take over. This is going to be so much harder than he thought. Pretending to be human, limiting himself, actually _caring_ for them...he doesn’t know if he’s going to be able to. Thinking of the future is both terrifying and exciting. He can easily envision what it could be like, being with them, and his heart hurts thinking about it. He wants that _so_ badly, to have them in his life in this way. Carefree, relaxed, _happy_ —he’d give anything for it.

Knowing that the opposite could happen—that he could be found out before the time is right(if there is a time) and they reject him—it makes his heart physically ache as anxiety curls around it, filling him with an unshakeable sense of dread.

He has to make a decision soon.

][][][

In the end, he screws everything up.

They’re wandering through a flower forest. Alex stops to braid her hair and add flowers to it, then tucks a flower behind both his and Steve’s ears. Steve’s is violet, a lovely shade that matches his eyes. Alex picks green for him.

They rest for lunch. Steve and Alex work like a well oiled machine, weaving past each other with ease and smiling at each other. It’s almost enough to put him in a better mood, but he remains muted by the impending decision he knows he needs to make soon. The prospect of either killing them or leaving makes him sick to his stomach, but if he slips up and they find out by accident, he’ll never be able to redeem himself.

Once lunch is ready, a simple meat sandwich and some apple slices, they eat in a companionable silence. Herobrine stares at the ground, lost in the same thought running through his mind on a loop.

Keep lying and hope for the best, or come clean and face reality?

“So, we’ve been thinking.”

Herobrine blinks and cocks his head, showing that he’s listening as Steve continues.

“I don’t really know how to say it other than just saying it so...we were wondering if you wanted to join us.”

Herobrine blinks, somewhat confused. “Am I not with you already?”

Alex looks like she’s going to vibrate off her seat, a huge smile on her face as Steve clarifies, “No, what I mean is...we want you to join our relationship.”

_We want you to join our relationship._ It’s that easy. All he has to do is say yes. He can figure out his trepidations later. But Herobrine doesn’t say anything, and the longer his silence goes on, the smaller their smiles get until both are looking at him with clear concern. He sees Alex slip her hand into Steve’s. As more time passes, Alex tightens her grip.

He realizes that he’s taken too long to answer and he starts panicking. Everything’s been going great, he hasn’t had a problem concealing his identity save for when Steve had been in danger, and there’s no guarantee that would ever happen again. He doesn’t have a reason to say no, he wants to say yes, he wants to _badly_ , he opens his mouth _to say yes_ —

“I—I can’t.”

He makes his choice.

His blood is like ice in his veins and his heart pumps double time, loud in his ears. He stands, letting his plate fall to the ground. Both look startled; they clearly expected him to agree. He should have. _Why didn’t he?_

“I don’t understand,” Steve says slowly, and the sorrow in his voice makes Herobrine want to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. “I thought— _we_ thought...”

He shakes his head, backing up. “I—I’m _sorry_.” He doesn’t bother grabbing his pack, as shame and frustration make his eyes burn, he just turns and runs.

Like a coward.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth.
> 
> And then something good.
> 
> And then something bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When i made this i imagined 2 chapters max and now?? Who knows? I def don’t lol, i keep getting hit with ideas but i didn’t set this up to go on too long T_T but i think next chapter will definitely be last
> 
> ...of course now that I’ve said that it probably won’t OTL
> 
> ENJOY!

Several miserable days pass during which Herobrine does nothing but sit in his bedrock bunker and punish himself. His hand his healed, but after so much damage, is left raw and tender, residual blood dried on his knuckles. Parts of the bedrock walls are covered in dried blood as well. Both his hands look barely better than ground beef, and they hurt like the Nether when he clenches them, but that pain pales in comparison to the pain in his heart.

This is less than he deserves. Misery, pain, guilt—it’s a start. For what he did, for what he lied about, this is what he gets. This is the Gods, punishing him.

He digs his forehead into his knees.

He thinks he deserves to suffer for the rest of the cycle—for many cycles to come—but maybe just...getting it over with would be better. Ending the cycle early. He’s sure it’d make Steve and Alex feel a little better too, regardless of whether they find out the truth or not.

He leaves the bunker on the twelfth day of his self-imposed isolation. Partly because he’s going crazy looking at the same gray walls day in and day out, and partly because he can’t ignore his heart. He _wants_ to go to them—whether for resolution or conflict, he’s not sure. All he knows is that he _needs_ to go, now.

He finds them easily enough. He knows where they’re going, after all. Though, they didn’t stop as long in Stonebridge as he thought they would, so he had to search in the neighboring biomes before spotting them. They’re well into a birch forest, walking slowly towards a new destination.

Seeing them almost crumbles his resolve. He’s trying to conjure anger, or hate, to make this easier on himself, but he can’t. Not after everything that happened. And they look—well, he isn’t sure. Not as happy as usual, but not complete wrecks either. He doesn’t know which would be better; if they act like nothing had happened, or if his departure had truly broken them. Perhaps it’s better that they simply appear sullen.

Despite their obvious sadness, they’ve never looked more beautiful. After being locked away for more than a week, seeing them is a breath of fresh air. He wants nothing more than to become Brian again, drop to his knees, and beg their forgiveness, but he knows that they’d take him back and he doesn’t deserve that—doesn’t deserve _them._

He doesn’t try to hide himself, instead standing in a small clearing directly in their path. For a moment it seems they won’t notice him, too lost in thought, so he shifts and coughs, making as much noise as possible.

Alex looks up and immediately turns around, throwing her hands in the air.

“Nope, no, this is _not_ happening. Not right now.”

Steve looks up, sees him, and sighs. He rests his hand on his sword, but he doesn’t draw it. “Finally decided to show up, huh?” Herobrine frowns. An interesting choice of words, all things considered. Were they waiting for him?

“I didn’t come to fight.” He holds his hands up, showing that he’s unarmed. “I came to surrender.” He drops to his knees, accepting defeat.

“Surrender?” Steve looks taken aback. “Why?”

Herobrine looks up, equally confused as Steve seems to be. “What do you mean, _why_?”

“I mean, we can talk things out.” From a few feet away, Alex turns to look at Steve, incredulous. Her eyes flit between Steve and him, as she comes to stand beside Steve.

“What the hell are you doing?” She asks, putting a hand on Steve’s arm. “You want to talk things out with _him_? Have you lost your mind?” It hurts to hear Alex so hateful of him, but he supposes that’s his own fault. After all, she has no reason to not hate him—neither of them do. But Steve—he’s acting weird.

“You want to talk?” He asks, bewildered. This is _not_ going like he thought it would.

Steve nods and says, “We deserve an explanation.”

Herobrine’s heart surely dies in his chest, even as Alex says, “No, _I_ deserve an explanation! What the hell are you talking about?” Steve _knows_. Somehow, Steve knows that he’s Brian.

Alex pulls on Steve’s arm, trying to get him to tell her what’s happening here, but Steve ignores her and gestures at Herobrine. “I think you should do the honors.”

Herobrine looks between Steve, who seems expectant, and Alex, who’s about to start swinging her sword if she doesn’t get answers soon.

“I’m...sorry,” He says, looking first at Steve and then focusing on Alex. “This is going to hurt.” He fades the illusion into view. Alex actually gasps, grabbing onto Steve’s arm tightly.

“You’re...but...” Alex stutters.

”You’re Brian.” Steve says, and finally the truth is out.

Herobrine ducks his head a bit. “Honestly I didn’t think it was too creative of a name in the first place.”

Both of them just stare at him.

Then—

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Alex yells, lunging at him. Steve manages to hold her back, but she elbows him hard in the stomach, making him cough and double over. Free, she tackles Herobrine to the ground. He lands hard and Alex wastes no time putting her hands around his throat and squeezing. Not hard enough to choke the life out of him, but hard enough to be a threat.

“Alex—“ Steve coughs out, but Alex isn’t hearing any of it.

“He lied to us Steve! He played us like idiots, actually getting us to—to _care_ about him!” Her fingers flex but they don’t tighten more. He just lays there and waits, putting up no resistance.

She stares hard into his eyes. “Take it off.”

He hesitates too long. She slams his head into the ground, making him hiss as his head throbs. “Show me your real self!”

Herobrine falters. “It shouldn’t matter—“

“Take it off! Take it off now!” She yells in his face, tears finally dripping down her cheeks and onto his. Herobrine glances over and sees Steve desperately wants to do something but holds himself back. He supposes this is easier for Steve, since he’d somehow known the truth. Slowly, Herobrine reaches up and wipes her tears away.

“Please don’t cry. I hate it when you cry.”

“You don’t get to hate it,” She whispers, seething and slapping his hand away. “You lied.”

He bites his lip, letting his disguise—letting Brian—go forever. “I did. And I’m—I’m sorry. But I only lied about my name and appearance. Nothing else was a lie.”

She makes a wounded sound. “I can’t believe that.” Just as her fingers tighten, ready to finally end him, Steve grabs her and hauls her off him. She puts up a fight, struggling the whole time.

Steve takes her over to a tree and grabs her arms, forcing her still. She twists and turns as best she can, grunting and yelling in anger, but eventually settles down, not looking at either of them. Steve situates her against a tree, taking a moment to put his hand on her cheek. Herobrine feels guilty when Alex slaps his hand away. Sighing, Steve stands and returns to him, offering a hand, which he takes cautiously.

Steve looks down at their hands. Brow knit, he rubs his thumb across the raw looking skin of Herobrine’s knuckles.

“What happened?” He says softly.

“I punched a wall. A lot. I was...angry, with myself.”

“Why?”

Herobrine looks away, even though Steve is still looking down at their hands.

“I—You two were getting good at finding me out. Trapping me, being one step ahead of me, defeating me, over and over again. I was getting desperate to beat you. I’ve thought about changing my appearance before, but I wanted you to know it was me, when I killed you. But I was tired of losing, so I went ahead and did it anyway. I...didn’t consider what might happen if I befriended you for real, if I developed... _any_ feelings for you.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t want to fight. Not after this. Not ever again, really, if that’s even possible. And I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me again. Like I said, I don’t want this life anymore. We can end the cycle right now, or I can leave.”

Steve only drops his hand a few moments after he stops talking. He leans close instead, whispering, a sincerity in his eyes.

“Look, I don’t want to promise anything, but I get it. You had bad motives but you got over them and actually started feeling something. I’ve already come to grips with that. Alex...I’ll need to talk with her. She’ll come around. But it’ll take time.”

Herobrine is confused to say the least. He doesn’t dare hope to believe what he’s hearing, After everything, he might get a happy ending? “What are you saying?” He also whispers, which makes Steve smile slightly.

“I’m saying I still want you to accept our offer. But, we’ll need to talk about it again. And you’ll have to give Alex time.”

“After—even after what I did?” Maybe Alex did actually choke him to death and he’s dreaming in the Void, waiting to wake up. This is definitely the happy ending he shouldn’t be getting. Steve isn’t—he isn’t _this_ good, is he?

“Yes. You said it yourself, you only changed your appearance. You didn’t change who you are, beneath that. And that’s what we like. Well—I don’t know about Alex now. But it’s what I like.” He grins.

Oh, Alex _definitely_ choked him to death.

Steve looks over his shoulder and Herobrine follows his gaze to see Alex staring at them. When she sees them looking at her, she glares. Steve shakes his head.

“She’ll come around. Probably. She really liked you.”

Herobrine nods and wrings his hands together.

“I really like her too. And you.” He doesn’t think of himself as a shy person, but it feels weird—almost wrong—to say that. He knows he blew it, after all. Maybe it’ll get easier.

][][][

It doesn’t get easier. Not right away, at least.

After their enlightening reunion, and after a lengthy and loud conversation between Steve and Alex that Herobrine tries his best not to read too much into, he’s is still unsure of his place.

Steve had approached him and told him that basically, he had to start over. While Steve understands that Herobrine no longer has ill intentions—now or ever again—Alex does not trust him anymore, plain and simple. It’s still somehow a better outcome than he’d expected. After all, he truly believed that they’d kill him and be on their way. Perhaps he hadn’t given them enough credit.

His only saving grace is Steve, who still treats him the same way. He doesn’t understand how or why, but their relationship—or whatever’s between them now—is similar to what it was before he screwed everything up.

One day, when they’re stopped in a small town he’s already forgotten the name of—he doesn’t change his hair but he makes his eyes green to blend in—Alex volunteers to resupply for them, giving Herobrine the perfect opportunity to ask Steve something that’s been bothering him.

“How did you know who I was?” He asks, the two of them leaning against the side of the blacksmith’s shop.

“Your scar, the one on your waist. You had it when we went swimming and _Herobrine_ had it in that cave so, not really hard to connect those dots, even with a head wound—and that reminds me—” Steve pushes away from the wall, hands on his hips. “—What happened in there?”

His _scar_. He could smack himself. As for the cave...

“Oh you—you remember that, huh?” Herobrine rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, you saw right. I had...an unfortunate mishap with lava which destroyed my shirt, and then the creeper exploded and that’s how I found you. Since you were clearly going to pass out, I decided not to speak and play off my appearance as a hallucination. After you passed out, I teleported to my bunker, grabbed a shirt and potion of healing, teleported back, and healed you.”

Steve nods, leaning against the wall now on his shoulder, facing him. His smile slowly fades into something more contemplative. “Do you think this could have worked a different way?”

Herobrine tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

Steve gestures between them. “I mean with us—our relationship. Do you think we could have happened a different way?”

Herobrine looks away, suddenly uncomfortable. He tries not to think about what happened, and how upset Alex is at him. Obviously he knows deceiving them was wrong, but it’s not like he had planned to start liking them.

“I don’t see how. Honestly I’m shocked you seem to be okay with it. I’ve done horrible things, to you and the Overworld. How can you stand to be around me like this?” He’s not usually insecure about anything, but it’s true—he’s murdered not only Steve and Alex several times over, but innocent people too. And he’d enjoyed it. How can anyone as good as Steve want to be in a relationship with him?

“Well, I don’t think that’s fair,” Steve says, brows furrowed. “We’ve killed you too.”

Herobrine shakes his head. “But you don’t burn down villages and murder families.”

Steve opens, then closes his mouth. “That’s...true. But you’re different now. Your feelings on this matter are important too. If something bothers you, you can tell us.”

Herobrine blinks. “If it bothers _me_? No, no no no, doesn’t it bother _you_?”

Steve shrugs, rubbing his arm. “It did, in the beginning. Before Alex and I were really friends, it was scary to think about you being out there. At least with Alex I feel less alone, but the thought had still been there. Maybe back then, I couldn’t see this happening. But things are different now.”

Herobrine looks down. This all happened so far in the past, there’s nothing to be done about it now. But he still feels bad about it. He supposes that’s a good thing.

He feels a hand on his shoulder and looks up. Steve smiles at him, then pulls him into a hug.

He returns the hug, squeezing probably too tightly but Steve doesn’t complain.

“I’m sorry, for what it’s worth,” Herobrine whispers. Steve pulls back a little to press a kiss to his temple.

“I know.”

][][][

It’s a truly beautiful day, one of those days that makes you happy to be alive.

Though they’ve been walking for several days straight now, Herobrine is in the best mood he’s been in since running out on them almost three weeks ago. Alex is no less hostile but she doesn’t get worse either. Steve’s told him that her anger stems from three issues—obviously that he lied and tricked them, the fact that he rejected them, even if he didn’t mean to, and that Steve knew, at least for a little bit, the truth and didn’t tell her. Given all that she has to be mad about, it will take a while for her to mellow out.

Herobrine doesn’t expect anything to happen right away, of course, but he still walks on eggshells around her, just to be safe.

Steve, however, is just as friendly as before, even going so far as to flirt with him again. It flusters Herobrine every time and Steve always laughs kindly, but it makes Herobrine feel warm and welcomed, instead of unsure and lonely. He doesn’t think he could have standed to be near them if Steve reacted like Alex.

The plains biome they’ve been walking through starts bleeding into swampy marshlands. Alex has taken to walking ahead of them, unwilling to walk near Herobrine. Steve usually walks between them, but sometimes hangs back to walk alongside him. Alex still glares at Steve, though not nearly as badly than at Herobrine.

Herobrine keeps a keen eye out for any mobs. Swamps are notorious for a reason. Mobs are always hiding in the shadows of the trees, watching and waiting for weary travelers. If you don’t keep your head about you, the swamps will easily claim another victim. Herobrine has personally lured villagers to swamps simply because of how treacherous they are, and watched gleefully as mobs ripped them apart. Not his finest moment.

It’s still midday, so the chances of being ambushed are low, but Herobrine keeps his guard up, just in case. With the speed Alex has set, they’ll clear the marsh in no time.

Herobrine’s never liked the swamp, and glancing around quickly, nothing is changing his mind now. The ground can barely be called that, sinking down with each step and soaking his boots and pant legs. An annoying aspect, but there really isn’t a way around. Swamp biomes tend to run on the larger side, able to add days or even weeks to an otherwise short journey. And at night...well, they hopefully won’t be lingering too much longer.

Of course, that’s when everything goes to shit.

He senses the mobs just as he sees them. Three creepers and four skeletons with arrows nocked, standing to the side beneath the cover of the trees. Though the skeletons are clearly prepared for conflict, neither they nor the creepers move. That, in itself, is suspicious enough.

He debates calling out to Steve and Alex, deciding that it’d be better in the long run to tell them than to not. The less reasons Alex has to hate him, the better.

He opens his mouth to speak when he sees movement. One of the skeletons looses its arrow.

He reacts out of instinct, yelling, “Look out!” and lunging forward at high speed to grab the arrow inches from Alex’s face. She jumps back, gasping.

“Holy shit! Where’d they come from!?” She pulls her sword from it’s sheath. Steve runs up to them, pulling his sword out as well.

Herobrine turns towards the seven mobs, snapping the arrow in his fist. An inexplicable rage ignites in him, at the thought of these mobs taking Alex or Steve from him. Despite Alex’s coldness to him right now, he still cares about her and will kill anything that wishes her harm.

“Leave.” He states, exuding a threatening aura that would make even the dumbest zombie turn tail and flee. The seven mobs stay still, however, testing his patience.

“I said _leave_!” He yells, and one of the skeletons bursts into flames. The flaming skeleton remains still and slowly burns to a crisp. The other mobs don’t move.

“Wow, tough crowd,” Steve murmurs. Alex slaps him lightly on the arm.

Herobrine stares the mobs down, silently trying to control them. Despite his best efforts, they remain immune to his thrall. Something has to be controlling them, and considering where they are...

That’s when he senses the other mobs, scattered farther back but fixed in place, surrounding them. He can’t see them, but he can sense them.

He adjust his stance, but unfortunately can’t protect Steve and Alex from all sides.

“Be careful,” He says, scanning the trees. “There’s a witch nearby.”

“Very clever Sweetheart,” Comes a voice from above them. Herobrine snaps his gaze up to see a witch standing in the treetop, waving. He growls, but his attention is split when the remaining three skeletons loose their arrows.

He summons a diamond sword and expertly knocks all three arrows away, then teleports to the six mobs. The three creepers immediately start hissing. Herobrine slices one’s head off, stabs the other through the chest, then baits the third, jumping back as it explodes and sends the skeletons flying. Then he rushes back to Steve and Alex, glaring up at the witch.

She smiles and whistles in appreciation. “Well, what do you know. Herobrine in the flesh. It’s truly an honor.”

He bares his teeth and she laughs. “Oh Honey, there’s no need for such animosity, _obviously_ if I had known who you were I wouldn’t have had my mobs attack you.”

“Then we’ll continue on without trouble and you get to live,” Herobrine says, tightening his grip on his sword. He summons a second one in his other hand, just to be clear. All she does is smile.

“Of course, though...not without a parting gift,” She says with a wink, laughing as she tosses several bottles at them. Herobrine knows he can’t deflect them all and even if he does, the liquid might still splatter on them. So he dismisses his swords, turns around to grab Steve and Alex, and teleports away, reappearing near the edge of the swamp.

“Oh Gods, I’m gonna throw up,” Alex says, clamping a hand over her mouth. Steve is hunched over with his hands on his knees, breathing through his mouth. Herobrine pays them little mind, eyes trained on the witch waving at them.

“It’ll pass,” He says distractedly, watching as several more mobs of all kinds move from cover to stare at them. He frowns in disdain, as most of these mobs are skeletons.

“We’re not through this yet,” He says, summoning a sword again. Steve picks up his sword from where he’d dropped it after teleporting, and Alex takes a few deep breaths to settle her stomach before shifting into a defensive stance, still appearing a little ill. Nothing to be done about it now—Herobrine would feel bad if teleporting hadn’t been a necessity.

He can see fourteen mobs and sense twenty more, hidden around them. Unfair odds to almost anyone, but he alone could take them all. Having Steve and Alex here is both a blessing and a curse. They can each hold their own, Herobrine has no doubt, but he’s still going to worry about them, which splits his focus.

They stand back to back to back, swords up and guarding. Herobrine briefly considers summoning a shield, but while it’s useful against arrows, it’s bulkiness makes hand-to-hand combat difficult. He likes to get up close and personal when killing, and a shield would only slow him down.

The skeletons, on some unheard command, all nock an arrow at the same time. Herobrine narrows his eyes, staring intently at the two skeletons in his direct line of sight. One arrow is dripping green, the other black.

“The skeleton’s arrows are dowsed in potions. Be careful not to let one hit you.”

“So no pressure,” Alex says wryly.

“Couldn’t you just teleport us away?” Steve asks him, but Alex cuts in to shoot the idea down.

“Now hold on, I’m kinda itching for a fight and right now seems like the perfect opportunity to let out some steam. If things get bad we can bail, but for now, I think we can take them.” She glances at Herobrine. “How many are there?”

“Thirty-four. Thirty-five if you count the witch.” Since they’re going to fight, he summons his second sword. There will be no holding back.

Alex snorts, a smile tugging at her lips. “See? Thirty-four mobs is _nothing_.”

Steve doesn’t share her confidence. “What about the witch?”

“Don’t concern yourself with her,” Herobrine says, staring her down. Even with the distance between them, he can see her smile. Herobrine bares his teeth again. “If she becomes a problem, I’ll deal with her.”

“Great! Now that that’s settled, I say we get right into it.” Alex takes a deep breath then rushes forward. That seems to trigger the battle, as creepers and spiders start beelining towards them, zombies stumbling along at a less pressing pace. The skeletons all fire as well, forcing Herobrine to focus on them and leave Alex be. He’s seen her fight, she can handle herself. Both of them can.

He takes a deep breath and darts forward, bringing his sword down with enough speed and force to cut a skeleton in half easily. He catches it’s head as it falls, turning and throwing the head towards another skeleton. The skeleton is struck and staggers, dropping its bow. Herobrine leaps at it and cuts it down before it can recover.

A creeper starts hissing. He kicks it back as it explodes, taking a spider that had been leaping at him out as well. Another creeper comes towards him, starting to hiss. He adjust his grip on his sword and aims, waiting until a zombie wonders behind the creeper. He throws the sword, hard enough to penetrate through the creeper and pin the zombie to a tree.

He feels eyes on him and turns, seeing Alex several feet away, staring at him. She has her own sword pinning a dying spider to the ground. Herobrine smirks and holds his hand out, summoning his sword back to him. Alex scoffs and rolls her eyes, but there’s a faint blush on her cheeks.

The moment is ruined when a skeleton shoots and misses Alex, drawing her attention away. Herobrine makes to help her, but is distracted by a spider leaping at him. It tackles him but he uses their momentum to kick it off him and spring back to his feet. He then lunges and stabs the spider in the head, killing it instantly.

Its low, but Herobrine hears a grunt of pain. He whips around, eyes immediately landing on Steve, who’s kneeling in the water with a hand clamped over his upper arm. He doesn’t appear to be in mortal peril or anything, but Herobrine’s heart still lodges itself in his throat. He runs over, dropping to his knees at Steve’s side.

“Are you alright?” He asks, pulling Steve’s hand away. He’s relieved—a flesh wound, from an arrow. Nothing to be too worried about.

His relief turns to panic when Steve sways. Herobrine steadies him, but Steve looks at him with glassy, unseeing eyes.

“I’m—Alright?” Steve slurs out, starting to list to one side. Herobrine pushes the panic down and swallows to clear the lump in his throat.

“No, you are definitely _not_ alright. We need to get out of here.” More so because his panic is waring with fury, and if fury wins out, he’s afraid Steve or even Alex might get hurt while he’s in a blind rage. The panic is a new, decidedly unwelcome experience, squeezing at his heart and throat, making his senses go haywire.

He stands, eyeing the swamp. There are no skeletons looking at them, or any even paying them attention. He looks towards the witch, who is still observing from the treetop. She has a bow, an arrow nocked but not aimed at them. Herobrine frowns, wondering if she really had been able to hit Steve from that far away. Granted the shot missed, but to tag him—he’s begrudgingly impressed.

Hearing Alex grunt, he looks at her. She’s doing well against three zombies, decapitating one as he watches and kicking the other to the ground. The third swipes at her but misses when she rolls, springing up behind it and cutting it in half.

Before he can call out to her, he senses a new mob just before it appears in front of Steve, who, in his delirious state, does not react, but Herobrine curses and reaches for Steve’s arm. The enderman is quicker, not going for Steve like he’d thought but instead rearing back and punching him. He crosses his arms in front of him to block, but the surprising strength behind the punch sends him tumbling back. He lands on his stomach and lifts his head out of the water to gasp and cough.

The enderman is grasping Steve’s shirt sleeve. Herobrine feels it build power at its core, getting ready to teleport away, and his heart sinks like a rock, settling uncomfortably in the pit of his stomach.

The enderman stands there, ready but chosing not to teleport away. It turns its head to look at him. He holds its gaze easily, silently commanding it to let go of Steve and teleport away. Like the mobs around them, it ignores his influence. It doesn’t even scream at him for looking at it.

“What’s—Steve!”

Herobrine whips his head to the side. Alex kicks a spider away from her and rushes towards Steve and the enderman.

“No, Alex wait!” He yells. He turns back to the enderman at the same time it looks from Alex to him. It disappears in a burst of purple, taking Steve with it.

“No!”

“ _No!_ Steve!” Alex stumbles to the place Steve had been sitting, landing hard on her hands and knees. The other mobs start closing in, though Alex is oblivious.

Herobrine knows that he has to move, so he grits his teeth and runs over to Alex, sliding to a stop next to her. Some skeletons that followed her have their arrows nocked. Herobrine looks once more towards where the witch has been the entire fight. She’s there, waving again, until an enderman appears next to her, takes her hand, and disappears with her.

Narrowing his eyes, Herobrine doesn’t ask and doesn’t wait—he grabs Alex’s arm and teleports away.

When they appear again, well away from the swamp, Alex makes a frustrated sound and rips her arm away from his grasp. She stumbles to her feet and makes to walk away, but falters, falling to her knees. Likely the teleportation’s effects are catching up to her. He would try to comfort her but, considering how she violently pulled away from him just now—maybe he should wait? Or would that make it worse...Gods, why is this so hard?

He swallows, feeling his heart race in his chest. The adrenaline from the fight is still coursing through his body, making him anxious and on alert. He desperately tries to calm the flames of rage starting to flicker to life inside him, at the thought of that witch. Whatever her game is, she’s going to be sorry she played it. He’s not going to be gentle with her—her death is going to be long and agonizing.

He feels a pang in his heart when he notices Alex’s shoulders are shaking. In all the time they’ve spent together, he’s rarely seen her cry. He’s a little surprised she’s crying at all—he would have bet money that she’d be ready and rearing to rescue Steve right away.

In any case, there’s no way that doing nothing will end up good for him in the long run, so he walks closer to her, somewhat hesitant. “I—I don’t want to make an empty promise, so I swear, we’ll find him and get him back.” He puts his hand on her shoulder.

She stands and turns, slapping his hand away. “How could you let this happen!” She yells, wiping her eyes furiously with a hand. There weren’t many tears, but her face is blotchy and red.

He realizes his hand is still lifted and drops it. “The enderman, it was stronger than usual—“

Alex laughs, though there’s no humor in it. “Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be. Are you telling me that the great and powerful _Herobrine_ can’t handle one enderman? Or maybe you’re finally showing your true colors, hm? One down, one to go, is that it?”

The fire that he’d been internally trying to stomp out _explodes_.

“You’re _blaming_ me? For what happened?” He says, baring his teeth a little as he speaks. He curls his hands into fists and they shake with his anger. “I couldn’t have known what was going to happen nor that the witch would be powerful enough to command an enderman!”

Alex puts her hands on her hips, sneering, “I saw you just _looking_ at the enderman. You could have done something.”

“I _was_ doing something! I heard him in pain, I rushed over to him, I was about to call out to you when the enderman appeared. I’ll admit that I underestimated it and that’s why Steve’s gone, but I will _not_ stand here and let you blame me for something out of my control!” He stalks forward, a part of him pleased to see fear in Alex’s eyes as she backs into a tree, blocked from retreating as he crowds her.

“What more do you want of me? I know I hurt you but what will it take for you to realize that I didn’t mean to? Do you want me to beg your forgiveness on my knees? Do you want to hear me say that yes, I was planning to kill you, but I didn’t go through with it because I fell in love, is that what you want?” Alex flinches at his words, her eyes wide and all signs of hostility gone.

“I—I...”

“ _I_ suggest that you take a moment to think about all the times I could have harmed either of you but _didn’t_. If I still wanted you dead, I would have killed you by now.” He’s practically vibrating with anger. He loves her, but she’s testing his patience. Steve had accepted him easily enough—why does Alex still reject him?

He turns away before he does something he can’t take back. The anger needs an outlet, however, so he punches a nearby tree. Hard.

The tree explodes in hail of splinters and leaves. He still feels angry, but it’s more manageable now. More focused. The witch’s smile pops into the forefront of his mind and he growls.

He glances at Alex. “Do you need to rest at all?” His tone is clipped and to the point. Alex blinks out of her thoughts, biting her lip as she contemplates.

“N-No, I’m okay—I’ll be fine.” Herobrine raises a brow at her stutter, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly.

“Good, then we’ll leave now.” He walks up to her, and she recoils.

He can see that she clearly wants to say something but can’t spit it out, so he holds up a hand, silencing her before she can start. There’s a strange serenity over him right now. The calm before the storm, he supposes.

“We can talk more when Steve is safe,” He turns his hand over, offering his palm to her. She lifts her hand but hesitates, looking up into his eyes. He remains steadfast and emotionless, offering only his hand so they may continue forward. As much as it hurts, if she will not forgive him so easily, he will share her reservations. She’d been quick to blame him and is distrusting of him and his intentions, even though by now he must have proven his sincerity. But if she still can’t bring herself to accept him, then he will remain closed off and distant as well. As much as he wishes to hug her, or kiss her, or even hold her hand again, that doesn’t mean he needs to subject himself to her emotional whims.

She puts her hand on his. He grips it tight and concentrates. The swamp is not too far away, but he can no longer sense the large presence of mobs that should be there. Weary of a trap, he chooses a spot a little outside the swamp.

He doesn’t often teleport with company, so he’s a little winded when they appear, especially after having just teleported. It’s nothing he can’t bounce back from though, just a few deep breaths to clear the slight dizziness.

Alex, however, grips his hand tightly when they appear. Her knees buckle but Herobrine manages to keep her standing while she overcomes the vertigo. She releases the death grip on his hand, looking a little green in the face.

“Just give it a moment, you’ll feel better,” He says offhandedly, scanning their surroundings. There are no mobs anywhere in sight.

Alex groans, rubbing at her stomach. “That was weird. A little warning would have been appreciated.”

Herobrine glances back at her, his gaze softening. “Sorry. You get used to it eventually.”

Alex makes a face. “I hope so...”

Herobrine walks farther into the swamp, keeping his guard up. It’s too quiet and too abandoned, especially after what just happened.

Alex notices it too. “Where are all the mobs?” She walks up next to him, looking around.

Herobrine shakes his head. “I don’t know,” He says, casting out his awareness. “There’s—wait.”

He looks down, and then kneels. He can feel mobs below them, likely in a cave system. That must be where the witch is hiding as well. If not, slaying a bunch of mobs without reservation will at least help the anger he’s managing to hold back. “I can feel mobs below us. I think they’re in a cave.”

“Do you think Steve and the witch are there too?”

Herobrine takes her hand again, looking into her eyes. “I hope so.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Herobrine grow closer on their way to save Steve. Steve doesn’t have a good time while waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geez sorry this took so long! I could have kept this going but then I don’t know when this would come out so I decided to cut it and make the last bit the next chapter.
> 
> I’m pretty sure next chapter will be the last one, but I feel like every time I intend that it never is XD.
> 
> OH well, we’ll see.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> —Warning!  
> Blood, mildish gore

Steve wakes up in total darkness with a pounding headache. He groans and reaches up to rub his head, only to hiss when his arm throbs. He can’t see the wound, but he vaguely remembers being nicked by an arrow. He feels for it instead, lightly touching his upper arm. It’s hot to the touch and sticky with dried blood. He grimaces when he touches it.

“So gross,” He mutters, leaving it alone for now. He wishes he could wrap it, or drink a potion of healing, but his choices are kinda limited. He looks around but the darkness is absolute.

He racks his brain, trying to remember exactly how this happened. He remembers the witch and fighting the mobs, then being hit by the arrow, but after that everything is fuzzy. He thinks he remembers Herobrine’s face but he’s not too sure. He does, however, remember being in a swamp in the middle of the day, so being here, alone in the dark, doesn’t quite make sense.

He spends time mapping out the room, but it’s small and barren. Nothing but stone walls on every side and as far as he’s aware, nothing else in the room with him. Not a very comforting thought, but then again what about the situation _is_ comforting?

Time passes slowly...he thinks. Left with nothing but his thoughts, time seems to crawl by at an excruciatingly slow pace. The only upside is that his headache starts to fade into nothing while he sits and waits. For what, he can only imagine. Witches aren’t known for being nice or merciful. He’s holding out hope that Herobrine and Alex will find him, but in all honesty his situation is looking a little bleak.

_Maybe_ two hours have passed when something finally happens. Of course, having an enderman appear in front of him while in an enclosed dark space is the last thing Steve would have wished for.

The one blessing to it being completely dark: the enderman’s eyes emit a faint purple glow, letting Steve know its location. He steadfastly stares down at the floor.

He hears it shuffle closer, which serves as his only warning before it puts its hand on his shoulder, making him tense. The enderman makes a sound but Steve just resists the urge to look at it, heart pounding.

Obviously with no way of communicating, the enderman can’t warn him before it teleports. The headache that’s just starting to go away intensifies into a hammer striking against the inside of his skull with every beat of his heart. It also doesn’t help that the room they teleport into is lit fairly well, stabbing at his eyes. He feels lost and disorientated, blinking through teary eyes and at this point, happy just to be able to breath without hinderance.

“Thank you dear, that’ll be all for now.” The voice is female and sounds distracted. He hears the enderman teleport away.

Steve blinks his eyes open as quickly as he can, realizing that it would do him no good to be a sitting duck in an unfamiliar room with a stranger who, most likely, means him harm.

Once he’s able to see without the light burning his eyes, he looks around. The room he’s in now is somehow worse than the room he’d just been trapped in. Mobs are lying discarded, dead, along the walls, ripped open and gored in a manner that makes Steve look away lest he be sick. He dislikes hostile mobs as much as the next guy, but that doesn’t mean they should suffer a death like that. And even after all his years of life, seeing gore like that still doesn’t sit well with him.

The witch is sitting in front of him, skimming a book and humming to herself. There’s a cauldron next to her into which she throws seemingly random ingredients, stirring occasionally.

The rest of the room is lined with shelves, bottles and buckets full of questionable items. He gulps when he sees a human skull floating in one.

“I’m so glad you could join me this afternoon,” The witch says. Steve snaps his gaze to her. She’s sitting crossed legged, her book closed and perched on her knee. There’s a smile on her face that Steve doesn’t like the look of.

He looks at his arm. “How—“

“Oh, a simple poison,” The witch interrupts, waving a hand as if to dismiss his concern. “I gave you the antidote, seeing as how I wouldn’t want you to miss out on all the fun we’re going to have together.”

He does _not_ like the sound of that. He takes a purposeful glance around the room. “Fun, huh?”

The witch stands with a laugh. Steve can’t look away from her book, which floats with an unseen force around her. She saunters up to him, making him retreat until his back hits the wall. Then she kneels before him.

“Of course!” She brings a hand up to his face and rests the tip of her pointer finger just below his left eye, then drags it down lightly. “First I’m going to harvest your organs.” Her finger runs over his lips and down his throat, catching on his collar and pulling it down slightly. “Then I’m going to grind your bones into a fine powder.” Her gaze, which had been following her finger, trails back up to meet his eye. “I think I’ll keep your eyes, though, definitely somewhere I can see them. They’re quite a lovely shade, like nothing I’ve seen before...”

Steve swallows down the hysteria and tries leaning away as much as possible. “Are you sure letting me go isn’t an option?”

The witch laughs again, letting his collar go to pat his cheek. “Oh, aren’t you adorable! Sadly no, it’s not easy controlling mobs you see. Takes a lot out of a girl. I went through all that trouble to capture you, I can’t let you go now silly!” She stands and returns to her cauldron. Steve’s eyes are drawn to the book again as it opens by itself, hovering just before her.

Seeing no immediate way out of this, he decides to try stalling. “Why me?”

She hums and tilts her head, but doesn’t look away from her book as its pages flip by themselves. Gods that’s creepy.

“Hm? Oh, just unfortunate timing on your part I’m afraid.” She glances at him, the look on her face sad but clearly in a condescending way. “No special reason—well, actually...” She turns her head to stare fully at him, eyes narrowed. “You _were_ traveling with _Herobrine_ , of all people. Maybe there _is_ something special about you...”

Steve gulps, glancing for a way out but there isn’t one, at least not that he can see. There _is_ a door to his left, but the likeliness that it’s open is practically zero. The witch, after a last, somewhat suspicious look, has returned to adding ingredients to her cauldron, humming. Steve doesn’t like that she’s not restraining him in some way, as if she thinks he’s not a threat. Or maybe she’s just confident in her ability to stop him. Regardless, he remains pressed against the wall, desperately trying to think of a way out of here.

While there’s a large part of him that believes Herobrine and Alex will rescue him, considering how their relationship is right now...well, it’d be a miracle to say the least.

][][][

The mobs aren’t in a cave, but a ravine. Below the surface of the swamp lies a vast ravine, easily one of the biggest Herobrine’s ever seen. Remnants of a mineshaft intersect the ravine’s plunging cliffs. The only light sources are a thin stream of lava waterfalling from the top near the middle, and a single torch on a wood beam leading into the mineshaft. The mobs they had been fighting not twenty minutes ago are lurking in the shadows, staring at them.

Almost immediately, Herobrine sense the difference within these mobs. He looks at a creeper and silently comands it to walk away. It obeys quickly, scuttling away from them faster than ever.

“These mobs aren’t being controlled by the witch,” He informs Alex, starting to walk towards the mineshaft entrance. The mobs keep a wide berth around them, some going as far as pressing up against the wall, squishing themselves to stay away from him.

There’s anger sizzling just below his skin, waiting to be unleashed. It wouldn’t be fair or nearly as satisfying to attack these mobs now, not when they cower every time he looks at them, but he isn’t known for being merciful.

Once they reach the entrance, he pauses and looks back. He pulls the group of mobs under his thrall and commands them to jump into the small lava pool. They resist, naturally, self-preservation fighting his influence over them, but he doesn’t have the patience to waste any more time on these mobs. Ruthlessly, he overpowers their will and forces them to walk into the lava, all of them silent and flailing as they burn alive.

When the last mob burns to a crisp, he turns back to Alex. She’s staring at him somewhat wearily, but she doesn’t seem overly upset about what just happened.

“I get why but man, that was brutal,” She says, eyes flitting to the lava briefly, a little unnerved by the display.

“...We should hurry.” He stalks into the darkness, trusting Alex to follow behind him. She does, taking the torch from the beam on her way past it. He might be able to navigate the dark, but Alex can’t. No matter—there are no mobs nearby to alert to their presence, and even if there were, none would pose a real threat. And none would be spared his wrath.

It becomes clear pretty early on that this mineshaft has been modified to be more maze-like than normal. There are no mobs, which make navigating the mineshaft both easier and harder. Easier because they don’t have to fight anything—harder because Herobrine can’t tell where they are or where to go.

Several quiet minutes pass. Though he can practically feel Alex’s eyes on the back of his head, he doesn’t stop and doesn’t turn around, stalking through the darkness and slowly becoming more and more agitated.

“Do you—uh, do you know where we’re going?” Alex says after a bit, holding the torch up to try and see down a dark corridor when they come to _another_ intersection. Herobrine, about to walk down a familiar looking hallway, pauses and takes a deep breath, on the verge of flipping out.

“No,” He says, trying and failing to feel _anything_. No mobs nearby, no sounds other than their breathing and footsteps, no creeping dread picking at his nerves. Nothing but silence and darkness.

Alex turns the torch his way, and he turns around to look at her. She’s biting her lip, looking everywhere _but_ him.

“But you have a plan, right?”

Herobrine sighs, looking away from her. Though he doesn’t feel anything abnormal about this mineshaft—other than the obvious—he still knows they’re on the right track. Steve and that witch are _somewhere_ in here, he just knows it.

“I hoped it was going to be easy. Considering all the mobs that witch had helping her, I thought they were going to lead us to her.”

“How’d she control mobs like that anyway?” Alex asks, following after him when he picks a random direction and starts walking.

Herobrine frowns. “Withes are...complicated. They’re granted powers through tomes written in ancient languages. Studying and especially speaking that language gives them power for short periods of time, that’s how she was able to control mobs despite being human. Being able to control an _enderman_ though—I admit that’s an impressive feat. It really shows how adept she is, and how dangerous she could end up being.”

“What makes it impressive?”

“Endermen are already controlled by the End Dragon, for the most part. To be able to break that connection and ensnare the enderman to do your bidding, it’s no laughing matter.”

Alex hums. “Can you do that?”

“To a degree, yes. The Dragon doesn’t actively control endermen, it simply has the ability to do so if it wishes. I can influence a mob, including an endermen, to do whatever I want it to, for the most part.”

“‘For the most part?’”

Herobrine manages a slight smile at the almost teasing tone in Alex’s voice, though it vanishes quickly off his face. “A zombie can sometimes resist my power, if it’s particularly dull. An enderman can as well, if the Dragon gets involved. Ravagers are almost always immune to my power, since they usually bond with an Illager at birth.”

“Huh.”

Alex falls silent again and the two of them continue walking through the maze. After several more minutes of nothing, Herobrine—practically shaking with rage—stops and faces a wall. He rears back and punches, blasting a hole through to the other side. Alex comes up beside him, shining the torch’s light into the new hallway.

“I guess that’s one way to do it,” She comments, leaning forward and peeking farther into the hallway. Nothing but darkness on either side.

“I didn’t come down here to play games,” Herobrine says, stepping into the newly opened hallway and punching the next wall in their way. It too explodes outwards. Alex squints and coughs as dust is kicked up around them, opting to remain silent as Herobrine makes his way through the mineshaft. Once he starts breaking everything, it becomes easier, and eventually they come across torches, enough to illuminate a clear path leading somewhere.

A presence blinks into existence in front of them. He holds out his hand to signal for Alex to stop. Since the hallway is lit a lot better than the ones before, it’s obvious that there are no mobs, so when Alex asks, “What do you see?” She sounds confused.

“I don’t see anything, but I can feel an enderman nearby. In that direction.” Herobrine points forward and a little to the right.

“An enderman in a mineshaft?” Alex looks up, as if trying to determine if an enderman could stand in here. Yes, but there isn’t a lot of room for them, at least not in the corridors.

“I don’t think it’s here by choice,” He comments, eyes tracking the enderman through the wall. He can feel it getting closer and it’s setting him on edge.

Alex shuffles a little closer to him. He wishes he could truly appreciate her warmth as she presses against his side, but his mind is trained on the enderman and the imminent danger Steve’s in.

He summons a sword just as the enderman teleports in front of him, already screaming. It swipes a hand at him and he blocks it, pushing the enderman away from them with a mighty swing. It skids along the ground, glowing purple eyes trained on him. Herobrine meets the gaze unflinchingly, baring his teeth. He tries to influence it, telling it to stand down and let them pass, but it’s like there’s a wall blocking him from the enderman’s mind. The witch’s doing, no doubt.

He feels the enderman getting ready to teleport again and takes a deep breath, facing it fully. What he’s about to do is so dangerous he’s only tried it once and promptly swore off ever doing it again, but desperate times and all that.

The enderman teleports, like he knew it would. When it appears in front of him, instead of blocking the attack, he catches it, grabbing the enderman’s hand tightly. His breath quickens and his heart beat doubles as adrenaline floods his body, already anticipating what’s coming next.

The enderman, clearly offended by the touch, teleports away. Or, it tries to. As it teleports away, Herobrine teleports back at the same time, effectively trapping them in place. The enderman screams in his face again and makes to strike with it’s other hand. Herobrine grabs that one as well. The enderman is strong but he’s ready this time, easily overpowering it and forcing it to kneel lest it breaks it’s arms. Despite the losing battle, the enderman continues to try and teleport, undoubtedly more on instinct and self-preservation than intending to attack them, at this point just desperate to get away from him.

He can feel his body being pushed to a breaking point, but he can’t give in yet. As long as the enderman keeps trying to teleport, Herobrine counter-teleports to keep them in place. Although not exerting much physical force, he still feels his arms starting to weaken and his legs starting to shake.

The longer this goes on, the more he feels like he’s going to be ripped in half. He’s technically existing it two separate areas at the same time, and the disparity is starting to screw with his head. His vision half fills with images of another part of the mineshaft, one brightly lit with chests and other random personal items.

Teeth gnashed together, he opens his eyes—which had closed? He doesn’t remember that. The enderman, though unable to show much emotion, is clearly distressed.

He needs to end this now, or he’s going to pass out. He focuses as best he can on the enderman’s core, the center of it’s being, and ignites it. His eyes burn fiercely, making him wince, but he pushes the pain away and intensifies the attack, burning the enderman from the inside out. It wails and thrashes, trying and failing to yank it’s hands out of his grip or teleport away, but Herobrine makes sure to keep it in place.

After a few seconds, it stops teleporting. Herobrine increases the strength of his grip, forcing the enderman to kneel even further as it bursts into flames. Finally, it lets out a dying scream and disintegrates, glowing ashes falling to the ground.

All at once the backlash of using so much power hits him like an anvil. His legs buckle and he probably would have just fallen flat on his face if not for Alex, who crouches next to him and puts one hand on his chest and the other on his back, lowering him to a slouch.

“Are you okay?” She asks, shifting a little to be more in front of him. Hesitantly, she puts her palm on his cheek, concerned gaze searching his face. He closes his eyes and sighs in relief, glad for that ordeal to be over. But it’s going to take a while for his body to stop feeling like it’s going to explode. His muscles ache and he hears his blood roaring in his ears. He lifts a shaking hand and makes a fist.

“I’m going to have to be,” He says, panting. He tries to stand but his legs don’t listen—they don’t even twitch. He grimaces as he uses Alex to force himself up. She supports him as best she can as she lifts them to a standing position, one of his arms thrown over her shoulders. His legs shake but they don’t buckle, which is something.

“Shouldn’t you rest a bit?” Alex says as Herobrine starts walking forward, forcing her along. “You know, so you don’t get your ass kicked by that witch?”

Herobrine blinks hard and takes a few deep breaths before answering. “If it comes to it, I’ll just teleport us out.”

“‘If it comes to it?’” Alex repeats, raising a brow.

Herobrine huffs. “I hate to admit it, but after that, the witch _might_ prove too much for me right now.” A wave of pain washes over him. He grits his teeth through it, still feeling like his body is going to rip in half. Sweat drips down his temple, his stomach rolls, and his eyes burn.

“From the looks of you, _standing_ might be too much.” Alex leads him over to the wall, letting him support himself while she faces him. She cups his face with her hands.

“Look, I know that I haven’t been...the nicest, to you recently. What happened really hurt me. And I know that doesn’t excuse my behavior but...I—I do still...care, about you. I’m not blind and I’m not an idiot, I can see that you’re different. I see how you and Steve interact. And Steve trusts you, which means a lot.”

“Alex...”

“And I don’t blame you, for what happened with Steve and the enderman. I’m sorry I said that. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to prove yourself to me, at least not like this. I think you’ve already done a good enough job of that as is. You’re right, you could have hurt us at any point after you told the truth but you haven’t, and I can see that you won’t. I’m just sorry it’s taken me this long to accept that.”

Herobrine is both touched and speechless. It’s a big step for Alex to apologize _to_ him, given her reaction. Herobrine is under no delusions—he royally screwed up and he paid for it dearly. Just because he hadn’t liked Alex’s reaction doesn’t mean it hadn’t been justified. It had, a hundred times over. It still feels good to hear her forgive him, in a roundabout way.

He takes a shuddering breath. ”Thank you. You can’t imagine how much I’ve wanted you to say that. I’m sorry too—truly. I wish I hadn’t tricked you. I would take it all back if I could, but I wouldn’t take back this.” He wraps his arms around her waist, needing to lean more heavily on the wall to stay upright but it’s a small price to pay to have her in his arms. She slides her hands from his face to around his neck, then leans forward and hugs him. He returns it tightly, relishing her closeness. Like his own heart, her’s is pounding in her chest.

When she pulls away, she surprises him by pressing a kiss to the side of his mouth. It’s quick and chaste, but for how breathless he is, they might have well been making out for the last several minutes. She smiles shyly at him. “Get better first, alright? Then we can take on the witch and get our boy back. Together.”

Herobrine allows a smile and nods. “Okay. A few moments of rest, then we’ll continue.” He uses the wall to slide to a sitting position. He leans his head back against it, closing his eyes. The cold stone at his back feels heavenly against his skin, which he imagines has that raging fire barely contained beneath it. He lets out a long breath. Alex sits next to him, close enough that their sides touch from shoulders to feet.

After about a minute and a half of silence, Alex asks, “Do you have any clue as to where we go next?”

“I caught flashes from the enderman of a room farther into the maze. It looked lived in, or at least visited often. I’m not sure where exactly it is though, just that it’s somewhere that way.” Herobrine jabs his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the wall behind them.

“Better than nothing. Can you break the walls or is that too much?”

Although he still feels awful, he’s sure he can break a few walls down without hitch. “I should be okay.”

Herobrine rests for another two minutes or so before he asks Alex to help him stand. They can’t wait too long—for one, Steve could be in danger, and for two, it’s going to take a _long_ time for Herobrine to feel better. Might as well get this all over with.

It’s slow going, breaking through the walls, but they’re rewarded when they break into a room instead of another hall. This room is not the one Herobrine described, but it’s just as good of a lead, if not better.

Despite being deep underground, they’ve clearly run into a kitchen and living room. The room is brightly lit, a fire crackling away to keep the cold at bay. What is probably the dining table is completely covered with papers and books. Herobrine glances at them but he can’t read their strange writing or make out anything important, so he turns away, surveying the rest of the room. There’s a door to their left, and on their right are two sets of stairs, one leading up, the other leading down.

Alex leaves him leaning on the dining table to open some of the cabinets. She makes a pleased noise and reaches in to pull out some potions, which she stuffs into her pack. From the looks of them, they’re all potions of regeneration.

“This should help, right?” She asks, passing him one of the bottles. He sighs.

“Not really. The pain isn’t completely physical; it’s mostly mental. But it’s a nice thought. I’ll take a sip and save the rest, just in case.”

He does just that, uncapping the potion to swallow a small mouthful. The potion starts trying to do its thing, tingling all the way down his throat and spreading quickly to the rest of his body. As quickly as the tingling started, it’s over. He feels a little better, he thinks. Less like he’s going to keel over at any moment, though he wouldn’t bet on running a marathon anytime soon.

“We should proba—“

A pained scream echoes down the hall, interrupting Alex. Both whip their heads towards the sound as it bounces around them, familiar and horrifying. It’s coming from downstairs.

Alex looks back at him, a desperation in her expression that twists at Herobrine’s heart and stokes the fire of hatred in his being for the witch to a thundering, roaring beast of a thing.

Knowing Steve _could_ have been suffering is one thing—hearing it is another entirely. Herobrine pushes away from the table, cursing as his legs barely cooperate. “Fuck, why’d I have to—I’m gonna need some help here.”

Alex supports him again, the two making slow but steady—and determined—progress toward Steve.

It’s only a few seconds later when the scream cuts out. Both stop on instinct and listen. Herobrine can’t hear much over the blood roaring in his ears.

They’re standing at the top of the stairs, which cut deeper underground and turn left. A warm, inviting light emits from around the corner, but a pained groan from the depths shatter that illusion real quick.

Alex’s grip tightens around Herobrine’s waist.

“We’ve got this,” Herobrine says, starting to shake again. It’s subtle—the tremors are small and all over, instead of just his limbs. He’s holding in the rage, but just barely. More for Alex’s sake than his body’s which, after the enderman, is in no way, shape, or form ready to fight a witch.

Alex nods. “Yeah.”

They descend the stairs.

][][][

_A few minutes earlier_

Since he’s not restrained and the witch is no longer actively paying attention to him, Steve stands and looks around. Up close he can see that the bottles on the shelves contain different types of potion ingredients, suspended in some kind of liquid. Some of the larger bottles have various body parts floating in them. Steve looks away, swallowing down the disgust. He doesn’t understand how there can be so much evil in the world, or how the witch could find delight in doing this to people and mobs alike. It’s sickening.

He feels eyes on him and turns from the shelves to find the witch standing directly in front of him. He jumps, startled, and the witch smiles, advancing on him. He backs up but there’s nowhere to go.

“Do you like my collection?” She asks, turning a fond gaze toward the bottles. “I’m _very_ happy with it, but I’m always looking to add to it.” She looks back at him and puts her hand on his cheek, brushing the skin under his eye gently with her thumb. He cringes away from her touch.

She tsks and slaps him. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I need to, but I will. Don’t be rude.”

“I don’t have to do anything you say,” Steve snaps, a little snippety but can he really be blamed? He’s being held hostage by a witch threatening to kill him. Excuse him if he’s a little irate.

The witch—thankfully—steps away and eyes him, sweeping her gaze from his head to his toes and back again. “Well well well, where’d this come from?”

“If you think I’m just going to stand here and take it, then you’re in for a surprise. I’m not going to make this easy for you.”

The witch observes him for several moments before a slow smile creeps onto her face, her eyes narrowed. “Darling, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” As she speaks, her book floats around to hover in front of her, flicking open. She reads from it, the words obviously foreign. As she finishes reading, the book starts to glow, and she raises a hand towards him.

He lets out a shocked cry as his body is forced back into the wall, _something_ holding him in place so he can’t move. He looks down at his hand and tries to move it, but despite his best efforts, it remains stuck to the wall, along with the rest of his body.

“Impressed?” The witch says with a smirk, coming to stand directly before him. “Something to make this easier on both of us.” Steve’s eyes widen when he sees the knife in her hand.

“W-Wait, wait, please just—“

“Shhh, sh sh sh.” The witch puts a finger against his lips to quiet him. “It’ll be over soon, don’t you worry. Though, it _is_ going to hurt a lot, so, fair warning.” The witch brings the knife up and presses it lightly against his sternum. She slowly presses down with more force until his shirt gives. He hisses as the blade slices into his skin but it’s shallow, stinging like a paper cut. He scrunches his eyes closed as she drags the knife down, cutting his shirt and making a superficial slice down his chest and stomach. Once she reaches the waistline to his jeans she pulls the knife out and cuts his collar and the bottom of his shirt, leaving his chest and stomach exposed.

There’s an expression on her face that Steve doesn’t like the look of—wonder. Like she’s a kid in a candy shop with no adults to be found. Except his organs are the candy so he _really_ doesn’t like where this is going.

She sighs happily and puts her palm on his stomach, making his breath hitch. “I wish I had more time, but I get the feeling we’re going to be interrupted, so I’m going to have to make this quick.”

It’s not quick at all. Steve’s been stabbed before, many times, but he’s never had a knife slowly cut his abdomen open. He screams as the witch slices a deliberate hole from just under his ribs to the waistline of his jeans. Blood gushes out and immediately soaks into his jeans. The agony continues until she stops and pulls the knife out. He stops screaming and stands there panting, staring down at the floor in a daze. He feels lightheaded. And sick.

A hand slaps his cheek a few times. “Don’t pass out on me now darling, we still have a lot of fun left together.”

“N-No, w-w-we d-don-don’t,” Steve manages. He swallows down the rising bile in his throat as the witch smiles widely at him.

“Don’t argue with me dear, I find it to be very _unbecoming_ of a young man in a position like yours.” As she emphasizes ‘unbecoming,’ she stabs the knife hard into his chest, between his right pec and shoulder. Not fatal, Steve thinks deliriously, but not great either. He groans in pain, feeling nauseous when she twists the knife if place, swishing it around the meat of his upper chest. The feeling of something foreign moving in his body is almost enough to make him pass out.

The witch is humming to herself, her book hovering in tune with her quiet song. She yanks the knife out, stepping aside as blood squirts from the wound she just created. The knife twirls easily in her hand.

She sets the knife down on a nearby table. “Are you ready for the real fun?” She asks, putting her hand on his chest and sliding it down. Once she reaches the cut she made, she pulls her hand back then shoves it wrist deep into his body.

He screams again, easily in the worst pain he’s ever been in. He can feel her rooting around his intestines, grabbing and prodding at things as she goes. Tears spring to his eyes and drip down his cheeks, bile burns the back of his throat, and his head spins.

Then it stops. Through blurry and blackening vision he sees the witch withdraw and turn, attention elsewhere. It’s the last thing he sees as he _finally_ passes out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An End.
> 
> A Beginning.
> 
> Love finds a way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are; the end. I didn’t plan for this to be so long and i wish i could have structured it a little better, but im as happy with it as i can be i suppose. Thanks to everyone who supported this, I’m glad you all like it :D
> 
> Enjoy, and see you in the next one!

  
Herobrine is sure he’s never felt worse in his life than he does right now. Every step sends lightning bolts of pain up and down his body, his head’s pounding, his stomach is threatening to revolt, and his mind can’t decide on whether to be worried sick or pissed off.

The stairs lead to a small room with not much to see. His vision blurs dangerously when he takes a step into it, and he has to pull Alex over to the wall so he can lean against it, afraid that if he passes out he’ll take Alex down with him. The knowledge that the longer they take, the more danger Steve’s in, isn’t lost on him, and the constant anxiety to find him is wearing on his already flayed nerves. He thinks back to when they went swimming without a care in the world and internally laments.

“Yeah, there’s no way you’re in good enough shape to fight a witch,” Alex says, stepping closer into his personal space and hefting him back up and away from the sweet support of the wall. Shifting weight fully onto his legs make them tingle, which he takes as a bad sign.

“I don’t think I have a choice,” He grunts, as Alex starts dragging him to the only door in the room. He can feel them getting closer to the witch, her tainted presence only fueling the fire boiling within him. Though he and Alex have at least partially reconciled, there’s still some residual frustrations that he’d love to take out on a certain someone.

They enter a dim hallway, lit by redstone torches. There are doors on each side, but when they look through the first few, the insides of the rooms seem empty and unimportant. “Maybe I can be a distraction,” Alex offers. “Shoot some arrows, yell some shit.” Herobrine gives his opinion on that with a look, making Alex shrug. “Look, we need some kind of plan. We can’t just rely on brute strength and luck.”

“Seems to have worked preeeeetty well for me so far,” He says cheekily, chuckling breathlessly when Alex shoots him a look and lightly pinches the arm around her shoulders. Laughing hurts but he decides not to mention that.

“Yeah, well, I’m not leaving Steve’s life to chance. I—“ She pauses and takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to go so long without him.”

Herobrine feels his heart ache for her. He almost can’t believe that he gleefully used to hunt them down and kill them. He doesn’t ever remember killing just one of them, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t gone years without each other. He tries to imagine living decades without seeing one of them and is filled with sadness. He uses his arm around Alex’s shoulder to pull her closer, into a mock hug.

“I won’t let that happen.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Alex corrects, briefly returning the hug.

A loud crash to their left draws their attention. Herobrine’s more out of it than he thought, to have missed the presence of a zombie. They walk up to the door and peak through the window. A zombie is sprawled on the floor surrounded by broken glass. It must have tripped when it sensed them.

Herobrine feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end right before they hear a door open. Alex turns them, and they and the witch stare at each other for a good few seconds before the worry is pushed way deep down and anger takes over full force.

“You,” He growls, clenching his fists. Even that small action sends jolts of electricity up his arm. He grits his teeth, masking the pain as anger. “Where is he.”

The witch regards them cooly, smirking and leaning against the doorway. “Well well, look at this. It must be my lucky day, snagging myself an organ donor and having two more hand themselves over.” The witch laughs. “Don’t know what I did to deserve such good fortune but you won’t hear me complaining. Now, be good and come with me. I’ll take you to your friend, maybe let you say goodbye—if he’s still alive, that is.”

Alex is tense next to him, but Herobrine’s just focusing on not blacking out. The anger is making his head spin, but he needs to last long enough to put this bitch down and get them all out of here.

“Shut up! Your tricks won’t work on us,” Alex says, increasing her grip on Herobrine just a little. Probably to help ease her own nerves.

“Oh, it’s no trick, Honey,” The witch says snidely, “Time’s ticking on your friend’s life.”

She holds up her hand, which is coated in what can only be blood, from the tips of her fingers to running in rivulets down her wrist.

Alex is shaking, but when he looks at her, her expression is murderous. “If he’s dead, you’re going to regret it.”

The witch rolls her eyes, opening her mouth to speak but Herobrine doesn’t let her. He yanks his sword out of Alex’s sheath and sends it flying at the witch. She dodges with wide eyes but Herobrine’s there to intercept her, tackling her to the ground and wrapping his hands around her throat. A little less finesse than he usually kills with, but if it gets the job done...

The witch’s eyes glow red as she speaks in an ancient language Herobrine can only recognize a quarter of, but he understands “fire” and curses as he leaps away, just as a blazing fire erupts from the witch’s hands. She coughs, unfortunately able to breath again, and staggers to her feet, glaring. She opens her mouth again, but it’s Alex this time, firing an arrow at her, then two more in quick succession. The first two miss, but the third cuts deeply into her leg, making her kneel. She looks up at them, all mirth and playfulness gone, with glowing blue eyes. The temperature in the room drops like a rock, their breaths immediately visible in front of their faces. Herobrine feels each frozen breath burn his lungs, sending tremors down his spine. He staggers back and is caught by Alex, who practically hugs him from behind to keep him upright.

The witch speaks again, sending a gust of chilled wind at them. The strength of it knocks them off their feet and slams them into the wall. Alex gasps as the air is knocked out of her, and Herobrine feels his joints lock up the longer he’s exposed to the cold. Him and cold don’t really go together.

The witch whispers softly and hovers her hand over her leg, a soft pink glow emitting from her hand. The cut on her leg heals.

Herobrine tries to stand, to do anything while she’s distracted, but the lingering cold has handicapped him badly. Teeth chattering, he tries to clench his hand and feels like his fingers might snap off. Behind him, Alex is taking deep breaths, shivering but not as severely as him. He would move off of her, but his legs won’t cooperate with him.

The witch walks over to them and steps on Herobrine’s chest, pressing him harder into Alex. He hisses as her heel digs into his skin and grinds down on his sternum, and Alex makes a wheezing sound as Herobrine is forced to bear down more heavily on her.

“Now, no more fuss,” The witch tsks, shaking her head. “The longer you struggle, the longer and more painful I’m going to make your deaths, and you don’t want that.” The witch puts a finger on her lips, thinking. “Though, I want that, so maybe you can struggle a little more.” She giggles, pressing down a little harder with a gleeful smile.

Trembling no longer from just the cold, Herobrine decides that he’s had enough. Drawing just a little power makes his head spin and his heart hurt, but he does it anyway, pushing all feelings to the side. If he doesn’t kill this witch, Steve will definitely die, and they might be right behind him. He’s never liked dying, and even with the knowledge that he’ll be back, that doesn’t mean he’s careless. The thought of dying today doesn’t sit well with him—he just got Alex to open up to him, Steve’s still not safe, and there’s so much they all need to talk about. Dying is not only going to piss him off but it’s going to prevent them from being happy for years to come. But, he’d rather go out on his own terms than let this witch do it for him. He won’t give her the satisfaction.

It’s cold, which pisses him off. His body hurts from fighting that enderman, which pisses him off. The situation as a whole and especially the witch’s smiling face pisses him off. He uses that rage to push through the cold, the pain, the hesitation—if he doesn’t act now, they will all die.

The witch leans in and grabs his chin, forcing his head up to look at her. It makes him see red.

Gritting his teeth the whole time, he snaps his arm up and grabs her hand, pulling it away from his face. The witch huffs and tries to yank her hand out of his grip but he doesn’t budge, sneering at her as he increases his grip. She must realize what’s going to happen because her movements become frantic.

“Let me go!” Her voice is pitched high in fear, and Herobrine relishes in it. She tries to cast a spell, speaking rapidly, but Herobrine crushes her hand, the bones giving way and grinding together. The witch screams, dropping to her knees with tears streaming down her face. Herobrine finally lets go and the witch immediately draws her hand to her chest, cradling it gently and sobbing. He stands and she weakly tries to crawl away from him.

Herobrine stares hard at her, his eyes burning and itchng. He can feel something run down his cheeks, but he ignores it as he focuses on her. The witch screams louder, clawing at her arms and throat. Her screams turn wet as blood pours from her mouth. Herobrine keeps his gaze steady as she reaches a hand out to him, agony and desperation written across her face. He bats it away, sneering.

“Pathetic.”

She wheezes for breath, laying in a pool of her own blood, and after a few hacking coughs, she goes still.

He stands there, breathing heavily, until Alex squeezes his hand and makes him look at her. The room, now that the witch is gone, is warming back up. It won’t matter in a bit—there’s a backlash coming, but at least the room will be comfortably warm.

“This isn’t a good sign,” She says, reaching up to wipe at his cheeks. Her hand comes away red, but Herobrine manages a tired smile.

“No, it’s not. But you can’t worry about that right now. There’s nothing you can do for me, but there’s something you can do for Steve.” He takes her hand and puts it back on his cheek, covering it with his own and closing his eyes, taking these precious seconds for his own selfish needs. Though the time will pass quickly for him, he regrets that they’ll be missing a piece of their relationship, however little it might be, for an untold number of years. The thought of being without one of them or both of them is heartbreaking and lonely, so he can only assume how their going to feel when he’s gone.

There are tears in her eyes as she leans closer and kisses him gently, making it far too quick. She pulls away and smiles.

“Thank you.” And then she’s gone, rushing into the room the witch had come from.

Herobrine backs up until he hits the wall, then slides down it slowly, letting out a breath. The numbness he’s feeling should be a blessing, but he knows it’s only the beginning. As the room temperature increases, and the adrenaline leaves his body, the numbness gives way to pins and needles, racing up his arms, down his back, to his toes. A gnawing pain in his abdomen flares to life, his eyes burn so bad he has to close them in an effort for relief, and his head is pounding, his heartbeat loud in his ears as its pace doubles. He thinks about summoning his sword to his hand, if only to just get it over with, but even just the thought of using his power makes him nauseous and increases the intensity of his headache. He tries to keep the anxiety down, but he knows what’s happening and he hates it. His power can’t be contained by his weakened body and is tearing him apart from the inside.

He swallows down the sounds he’d very much like to be making, if only to keep Alex’s mind off what’s happening a room over, and digs his nails into his palms in an effort to distract himself. It does little to alleviate his pain, but the thought helps. It also helps to think about Steve and Alex, so that’s what he does, imagining their smiling faces and laughter and love.

He drifts off with those thoughts in mind.

][][][

He snaps awake.

He sits up and looks around. Just like always, he’s in his bed in his bedrock bunker, all his stuff shoved into chests and looking as unkempt and lonely as ever.

Looking at his hands, he bends his fingers and makes fists, half expecting the joints to feel frozen still. But his body obeys without hesitation, and nothing hurts. He stands and stretches, testing his strength. Everything is back to normal, his body feeling as rested and healthy as it ever has. He can feel the phantom pain from his fight with the enderman, if he thinks about it, and even just thinking about teleporting to the surface makes him feel queasy. He knows it’ll be a piece of cake, but the thought that it will hurt won’t leave his mind.

But he can’t stay here, nor does he want to. He’s suddenly hit with the desire to see Steve and Alex, right now.

He throws together a quick travel pack and takes a deep breath before drawing just the tiniest bit of power. It comes easily and without pain, which is to be expected but still comes as a great relief. Teleporting to the surface, he checks if anyone’s nearby. His bunker is nearly a full day and night’s walk to Sandhollow, a small desert trading village. He’s currently standing in a particularly dense forest just outside the massive desert, a gentle, warm breeze blowing carefully through the leaves.

He makes his way to the road and heads towards Sandhollow. He frowns as he walks, contemplating how he’s going to find Steve and/or Alex. His death did not happen close to where he is now, and there’s no telling how many years have passed since. Steve and Alex could be anywhere, they could even both be dead and he’d be searching for years before having any luck. He swallows down the lump in his throat, pushing those thoughts away. No, they’re out there somewhere waiting, and he’s going to find them.

He walks until nightfall, and decides to wait for the next morning before entering Sandhollow. As much as he wants—needs—to find them as soon as possible, he can’t just storm into town and demand answers. Not only would he probably not get anything useful out of the terrified townsfolk, but they’d also probably attack him. He’s not in the mood for a fight, no matter how one-sided.

He makes a fire, not for light but for warmth, and lays on the grass, looking up at the starry sky. His heart suddenly aches, thinking about Steve and Alex. Did they make it out of that cave okay? Did Alex even manage to saVe Steve in time? He feels horrible thinking that his actions left Alex alone for so long, and that Steve suffered a terrible death.

His thoughts are filled with all the worst possibilities, plaguing him until morning. He stomps out the fire and makes it to Sandhollow within a few hours. The heat of the desert feels amazing as he stands just outside of town. It’s early enough that he can’t see many people milling about.

He enters the town proper and walks up to the nearest person, who’s giving breakfast to a group of tethered horses. “Good morning,” He says, somewhat awkwardly. Making small talk with regular humans is not something he’s really worked on, and it doesn’t come easy to him.

“Morning!” The man says, turning to look at him with a wide smile that quickly melts into a horrified expression of terror.

Herobrine frowns. “Are you alright?” He looks behind him, seeing nothing but sand. He looks curiously back at the man, who’s shaking in place. Herobrine’s afraid the stranger might faint any moment now.

Herobrine shifts and the man instantly recoils as if struck, blocking his head with his raised arms. “Don’t hurt me!”

Uh, what?

“What? I’m not going to hurt you. I just need information.”

The man peaks at him through his arms, still shaking but less so. “Y-You’re n-not go-going to-o-o hurt m-m-me?”

Herobrine puts his hands on his hips. “Why would I—“

He cuts himself off, closing his eyes and sighing.

He forgot to disguise his eyes. No wonder this poor man looks about ready to pass out. He’s been spending so much time around Steve and Alex that he forgot regular humans still fear him and his presence greatly, that the mere mention of glowing eyes in the dark is enough to freak the out.

Well, damage done now. _Good going, idiot._

He puts up his hands, even taking a step back. “Look, I know how this might look, but I promise, I’m not here to do anything...untoward. I just need to know if two travelers named Steve and Alex passed by here any time recently.”

The man clearly doesn’t trust his words, but shakes his head. “I-I have-en’t—I-I d-don’t kno-ow.”

Herobrine barely refrains from showing his annoyance, though he does roll his eyes, knowing it’s hard to tell he’s doing so. “Is there anyone who might know?”

The man points behind him. He sees an elderly woman watering some flowers in front of a small inn. Herobrine nods at the stranger—who’ skin has gone pale and who still looks like he’s about to pass out—before making his way over. He puts an illusion on his eyes, not wanting to give the poor woman a heart attack.

“Excuse me?” He asks, once within human earshot. The old woman pauses and looks up, smiling warmly at him.

“Well good morning Deary. Anything I can help you with on this fine day?”

“Yeah, have you heard of two travelers named Steve and Alex passing through here recently?” He really hopes she has some helpful answers for him, because if she doens’t, things aren’t looking great for him.

She puts a hand to her chin, humming in thought. “I—Yes, I think so. About two months ago now. Very kind people, I remember, willing to help with anything. They didn’t stay long but they sure did make an impression on everyone.”

Herobrine feels relief and excitement flow through him. “Did they say where they were going?”

The woman nods. “Oh yes, they were fairly chatty young folk. They were traveling...” The old lady looks around, as if orienting herself, then points to their left, almost completely adjacent to the path he’d taken in. “They left that way, and mentioned visiting every town along the way.”

Herobrine mentally runs through a map. From Sandhollow traveling the direction they are...they could hit about 20 villages and towns within the last 2 months, if they kept their visits brief. The thought of traveling that much is discouraging, but knowing that they could be relatively close and that he has a plan to find him keeps him invigorated. He’s burning with a need to see them, to see that they made it out and are okay. Steve didn’t die, which is good news, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Is he okay? Is Alex okay? How many years have passed? Do they—Do they still want him?

He tries not to dwell, as he leaves town, on that last thought. It had briefly crossed his mind—that everything had been a dream, that he’d been dead this entire time and only now is waking up from the last cycle—but he’d quickly shoved it deep down and refused to dwell on it. Because even if it had all been fake, he wouldn’t be able to go on as he had before.

But he holds out hope that they’re not going to laugh at his story and kill him when they see him.

Since he’s close to his bunker anyway, he summons a map of the surrounding area. Sandhollow isn’t too far into the desert, and the path the old lady had pointed out runs pretty much parallel to the forest biome boarding the desert. At one point the desert curves left and the path splits, one way following the outer edge of the desert, one way heading deeper into the desert, and the last path leading into the forest. Half a day’s walk from that split, there’s a small town, mainly used to resupply. No inn, but maybe Steve and Alex stopped by.

He finds no luck there, but the next town he visits proves fruitful, if a little confusing. No one knows anything about Alex, but someone named Steve definitely stopped by. Nice guy, they tell him, helped them rebuild a bit after a creeper destroyed a farm. They point him in the same general direction, farther along the path to the rest of the small villages and towns clustered around this area.

He spends a week straight traveling, not bothering to stop at night and not staying long in any one town, hearing mostly stories of a helpful, kind young man wondering town to town. Once or twice he hears about Alex, but for the most part, he seems to be following Steve.

After a month of traveling and in a constant state between optimistic and hopeless, he finally catches up to Steve.

“Yeah,” The man says, rubbing his short beard. “I saw him yesterday, real nice guy. Said he couldn’t stick around though, much to everyone’s disappointment.” The man shrugs.

“Do you know where he went?”

“Said he was heading towards Green Lily Pass, but beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.”

He’s _so_ close, he can practically feel them in his arms, see their smiling faces and hear their beautiful laughs. Seeing them, and especially seeing them healthy and alive, has been the driving force behind his manic search for them, and he won’t rest until he finds them.

He nearly runs out of the village and travels straight to the pass, which starts at the base of a large mountain biome and winds up and through it in a safe manner. On the other side is a large plains boarding an even larger ocean, both home to Copper Edge, the largest—and only—city within 200 miles either direction. It’s an excellent trade city, home to several hundred people, shops, and businesses. It’s also the only place Herobrine can think Steve might stop at for an extended amount of time during his search.

Finding Steve in a large city shouldn’t be too difficult, but he’s still dreading it. A lot of people in one place means a lot of defenses against mobs, and to a lesser extent, him. If he slips up like he did almost a month and a half ago, he might actually die or at the very least, be run out of Copper Edge, which would set him back.

But first, he needs to cross the pass.

When he gets to the pass, the sun is just about to start setting. Herobrine frowns at the horizon, or what little of it he can see through the tree line. As much as he wants to keep going through the night, something is telling him it wouldn’t be a good idea to traverse over a mountain in the dark. He could teleport...

There’s a small travel lodge at the base of the mountain, mostly for people to rest at before or after making the trip over the mountain. He’ll stay there, then head out once it’s bright enough to be safe.

He turns when he hears the lodge’s door open. He realizes a few seconds too late that his eyes are still white, but he doesn’t do anything to change them, staring wide-eyed at the man standing in the doorway, staring back at him with a stunned, open-mouthed expression. They stare at each other, Steve’s face slowly breaking into a smile as he slowly walks down the stairs.

Steve lets out a little unbelieving laugh before rushing towards him, arms open. Herobrine barely has time to brace himself before Steve tackles him and sends them both to the ground.

Steve hugs him tightly, burying his face in Herobrine’s shoulder. “You’re here!” He says, pulling back and gazing down at him with teary eyes. “You’re finally here...”

Herobrine reaches up to cup Steve’s cheeks, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. “This is supposed to be a happy reunion; no tears, okay?” Herobrine smiles, ignoring his own tears as Steve leans down to kiss him, smiling the whole time. They spend a few moments like that, reveling in each other’s presence, before Steve stands and offers Herobrine a hand.

He’s practically vibrating with energy as they walk to the lodge and Steve leads him to his room. It’s small, much like the lodge itself, nothing more than just a room with a bed and a small desk, but to Herobrine, in this moment, it’s as good as home.

“I’m sure you have questions,” Steve says, sitting on the bed and patting the space next to him. Herobrine drops his bag at the foot of the bed then takes the offered spot.

“One or two,” He says lightly, not wanting to come off as obvious, but Steve’s smile makes him think the other already knows. He takes Steve’s hand in his and looks closely at him. “Are you okay?”

Steve laughs softly, turning his hand over so he can squeeze Herobrine’s. “I’m fine, what happened with that witch was 27 years ago.”

27 years.

He feels that information like a stab to the heart. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to die, but I couldn’t let that witch hurt you or Alex anymore than she already had.”

“It’s _okay_ , it wasn’t your fault. We don’t blame you for what happened, you saved us after all. If you hadn’t done what you did, I would be in your position right now. If Alex had been just a few seconds too late with those potions, I wouldn’t have made it.”

Herobrine frowns. Looking at Steve now, there’s nothing physically wrong with him. No noticeable scars, no missing limbs, no indication of having been captured by a witch. “What—What did she do?”

Steve lifts up the left side of his shirt, just enough to see a long jagged scar, spanning from just under his ribs to his waist. Herobrine scrunches his face up, hissing through his teeth.

Steve drops his shirt with a sigh. “Yeah, I know. She cut me open and was probably going to start pulling my guts out before you guys interrupted her.”

Herobrine feels rage briefly overshadow the elation, but he quickly shoves it down and away, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. “I wish I could kill that witch all over again,” He mumbles, shifting on the bed to better face Steve and gripping his hand tightly. “I’m so sorry.”

Steve smiles again, rubbing a thumb soothingly over the back of his hand. “I’m sorry too. Alex told me you were in pretty rough shape even before you two got to the witch. You must have been in pain.”

Herobrine shrugs. Pain is not new to him, pain is and always will be in his life, so long as he keeps overusing his powers. And with people like Steve and Alex to protect, he will do _anything_ to keep them safe. “It’s something I’m used to. Overusing my powers starts taking it’s toll on me, though I rarely die from it.”

“Still, I hate the thought of you in pain just as much as I’m sure you hate the thought of me or Alex in pain.” Steve reaches up with his other hand to cup Herobrine’s cheek, looking at him sadly. “Just because you’re used to pain doesn’t mean you have reason to feel it, okay?”

Herobrine bows his head briefly, swallowing down the building lump in his throat. Despite being with them for some time now, he’s always surprised when it comes to the intensity of the emotions he feels regarding them. Nothing has ever brought him closer to the dark abyss of rage inside him than the sight of Steve or Alex in trouble. Nothing has ever made his heart ache fiercely with pure emotion than when he looks at them.

Nothing has ever made him _love_ before.

“I’ll try to remember that,” He says, though he’s sure they both know that as long as he’s capable of it, he’s going to put his life in danger to protect them. He changes the subject quickly, not wanting Steve to dwell. “Where is Alex, by the way?”

“We split up so we could search in a wider area for you. There’s no telling how long you’d stay dead for, so after about 14 years we started looking. Every now and again we’d split up to cover more ground, just in case, then we’d back track and revisit towns, to be thorough. I’m not sure exactly where but Alex is on the other side of the mountain, making her way towards Copper Edge. I was going to cross the pass then stop by a few smaller towns on my way there as well, but I suppose we can head straight to the city and wait for her.”

“I’m surprised you’d split up at all. Don’t you get lonely?”

“I mean, yeah, but honestly, these last 27 years passed by _quick_. I’m sure you know what it’s like—most times, whole years have passed and it feels like only a month or two has gone by, you know what I mean?” Herobrine nods. Oh he knows the feeling all too well. Back when he was still interested in killing them, the cycles he was victorious in seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. He always thought that they showed up way too quickly to spoil his fun, when in reality, anywhere from 20 to 40 years had passed.

“But I don’t have to be lonely anymore, do I?” Steve says, smiling slyly.

“Not if I have any say about it.” He smiles back, but it’s broken up by a yawn.

“Tired?”

He shrugs. Truthfully he hadn’t been feeling tired during the whole of his search, but now that he’s found Steve, he feels like all the energy that had been keeping him going is draining out of him, leaving him exhausted. Despite not needing as much sleep as humans, going a month and a half without it seems to be pushing it.

“Maybe a little.”

“Well I am too, so let’s go to bed and in the morning, we’ll cross the pass and hopefully meet up with Alex.” Steve stands and removes his shirt, folding it neatly and placing it on the desk. He makes to remove his pants and Herobrine looks away, face suddenly hot. He hears a low laugh and then feels Steve’s hand on his face, turning it back towards him.

“You don’t have to look away,” He says, amused. He’s wearing nothing but his underwear and Herobrine tries not to stare, despite the permission. The most he’s done with either of them has been kissing, and even then it’s been fairly tame.

“It’s just—well, for me, it hasn’t been that long since—you know, and we haven’t really done anything...” He trails off when Steve sits next to him again.

“We’re just sleeping, okay? But a long time has passed since you came back to us and after what happened with that witch, Alex has come to terms with what happened and has forgiven you. And you already know how I feel. So if you want to look, go ahead. And if you want to touch or do anything _more_ , well, just let me know and we’ll see if you get lucky.” Steve winks as Herobrine’s face lights up again, and Steve laughs as he pulls Herobrine off the bed so he can yank the covers down.

Herobrine removes his shirt and jeans as well, trying not to overthink anything. Steve’s already in the bed, on the far side, so Herobrine climbs in somewhat hesitantly and settles down as well. Steve pulls the covers up a little, yawning.

“Goodnight,” He says with a smile, closing his eyes.

“Goodnight,” Herobrine says quietly, hyperaware of everything he’s touching. Steve lets out a huff and reaches forward to grab his hand, interlacing their fingers. It helps relax him, as he slowly un-tenses his muscles and allows himself to rest.

Despite yawning just a few minutes ago and the bone deep exhaustion he can feel weighing him down, sleep does not come to him. Instead, he lays there and looks at Steve as the other sleeps, committing his face to memory. He notices things he hadn’t before, like the faintest presence of freckles on Steve’s cheeks and the darkness of his cheeks and jaw as his facial hair grows back in. He wonders what Steve would look like if he let it grow out, and realizes that he’s only ever seen Steve clean shaven.

The night passes quickly, much to his surprise when he sees the sun creep into the room on the wall behind Steve. Herobrine takes a deep breath and shifts, silently cursing when his movements seem to wake his bed mate.

Steve blinks his eyes open and yawns, stretching out his limbs with a satisfied groan before flopping back down and smiling at him.

“Good morning,” Steve says through another yawn.

“Good morning,” Herobrine says, quietly as to not shatter the silence of the room. This is easily the most peaceful he’s felt in a long time, and he wishes they could lay together all day, but at the same time he feels a bubbly anxiousness when he thinks about seeing Alex, and it makes him want to hurry up and go.

Steve stretches again before sitting up, the covers falling to pool around his hips. Unlike last night, Herobrine does allow his gaze to wander, but when he sees the scar on Steve’s side, he looks away for a different reason. Even if Steve died and lost the scar, he thinks he’d still see it, evidence that he hadn’t been good enough to prevent it.

Steve goes about getting ready for the day, and Herobrine follows his lead at a much slower pace, avoiding looking at the other man until he’s at least wearing his shirt again. A stray thought enters his mind and makes his face heat up—he wonders if that scar is going to ruin the mood if he ever “gets lucky,” as Steve put it. He certainly hopes not.

Once he’s dressed and ready, he follows Steve to the small dining area the lodge offers. There’s no one else in the room, given how early it is, though clearly people are expected to be waking up soon, as every table has a bowl of apples and a plate of bread, melons, and sweet berries. Steve picks a random table and sits down, grabbing an apple and munching away. Herobrine sits as well but refrains from eating. Steve notices, of course, and gestures to the food.

“You’re not hungry?” Herobrine shakes his head.

“Not presently, no. I don’t eat as much as a human might. Sometimes the thought of eating is repulsive, actually.” He puts his elbow on the table and rests his head on his palm, watching Steve eat. “I don’t require as much sleep either.”

“How often do you sleep then?”

“Hmmm...I start feeling _really_ tired around the three month mark.”

Steve chokes on his mouthful of food and coughs, staring at him in disbelief. “Three months!?”

Herobrine shrugs.

Steve shakes his head, eater slower. “Wow. I had no idea you were so much different.”

Herobrine raises a brow. “Was the teleporting and glowing eyes not clear enough?”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Shut up,” He says playfully, finishing his breakfast and looking between Herobrine and the food. “Are you sure you’re not hungry?”

Herobrine feels a fondness settle around his heart as he shakes his head at Steve, standing and walking towards the door. They exit into the crisp morning air, the soft sunlight illuminating their path up the mountain. To Alex.

They make the journey in relative peace. They encounter one zombie as the pass cuts through part of the mountiain, trapped between two openings to certain death as the sun shines brightly. It’s dispatched easily, the both of them too happy and eager to let a measly zombie stop their momentum.

The pass exits the mountain and gives them a beautiful view of the great plains biome that leads to Copper Edge. Herobrine’s filled with a feeling of intense longing as he stares at the horizon, knowing that somewhere out there, Alex is waiting.

Getting to Copper Edge is easy, once they’re through the mountain. Herobrine’s filled with a giddiness he can’t and doesn’t want to tamper down, the feeling only getting stronger as Copper Edge comes into view. He feels a buildup of power within him and grabs hold of Steve’s arm, teleporting them closer. He lets go when they appear, both of them gasping. Herobrine because he feels like he did however long ago he first woke up, discovering his powers and all he can do and having zero control over them, like a child, and Steve because his molecules were just rearranged against his will and that kind of experience isn’t easy for anyone to get used to.

“Dude, a little warning next time,” Steve groans out, holding one hand over his stomach and the other over his mouth. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Herobrine ducks his head, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry I—I don’t know what came over me.”

Steve’s pale face manages a smile. “It’s okay to be excited. It’s kinda cute actually.” Steve laughs at Herobrine’s face, patting him on the back. “Come on, now that we’re closer we can get a room and then resupply. I’ve been waiting until we got here to repair my sword, poor thing has seen better days.”

Herobrine looks at the iron sword on Steve’s hip as they start walking again, thinking back to his bunker. “Why don’t you use a diamond sword? Actually, why don’t you use an _enchanted_ diamond sword? Surely you and Alex have the experience necessary for such a feat?”

Steve shrugs, putting his hand on the hilt. “As nice and convenient as a diamond sword with, let’s say unbreaking, would be, it’s the ease with which blacksmiths can repair iron swords that make the choice for us. We travel a lot and don’t have much space for diamonds. Iron is a lot more useful than diamond, in a more general way. And it’s not like we can carry an enchanting table around. _And_ it’s not like most blacksmiths would know the first thing about repairing an enchanted sword, let alone a diamond one.”

“Why don’t you just repair the sword yourself?” He thinks about limiting himself to strictly iron and shudders. Yes, an iron sword can be handy in battle—mostly in a pinch—but nothing holds a light against diamond. He prefers it much more to anything else, even enchanted iron weapons.

“We’re lazy,” Steve chuckles with a shrug. Herobrine rolls his eyes.

They approach the impressive gate surrounding Copper Edge. Steve suddenly grabs his arm, jerking him to a stop and forcing him to turn his back on the guards waiting by the gate.

Steve gestures to his face. “Are you gonna...?”

“Oh, right.” He passes the illusion over his eyes, choosing some shade of brown he doesn’t care to be too specific about. Steve nods his approval.

They approach and then pass the four guards at this side of the gate, two on the ground and two in watchtowers above. It occurs to him suddenly that _he’s_ the only thing worth so much defense and he rarely chooses to attack such fortified cities, preferring the easy pickings of smaller towns and villages. Now that his interests lie elsewhere, he wonders what the point of such a large wall is.

Steve buys a room for a couple days at the largest inn Herobrine’s ever seen, and they deposit their things there before heading back outside. They ask around, if anyone’s seen a redhead named Alex recently, but only hear back negatives from the various shopkeepers and random pedestrians they talk to. Steve doesn’t seem too bothered by the news, and Herobrine tries not to let Alex’s absence damper his mood too much. She’ll be here soon, and in the mean time he can spend more time with Steve. Win-win.

The sun is a little past noon when they stop for lunch, Steve leading them to a small cafe of sorts. The server lets them pick a table outside and they sit, waiting for menus. Herobrine still doesn’t feel particularly hungry, and passes the time as Steve orders watching people go by. It’s fairly relaxing, sitting and just...existing. No one to fight, nothing to do, nowhere to be, and nothing to worry about. It’s...nice. He wonders why he never bothered to do it before. He can still imagine rampaging through the city, killing and maiming and destroying everything in sight, but it’s muted. The thought it simply that—a thought. He feels no desire or impulse to carry it out, and looking back at Steve’s face as he talks to the server, he imagines the horror and pain his actions would cause both Steve and Alex, and feels ashamed and guilty. Despite having no intentions of falling back to his old life, just the thought of hurting either one of them emotionally is enough to put him off his bad habits.

Steve finishes with the server and notices Herobrine’s gaze on him. “What?” He says with a little smile, resting his chin in his palm. Herobrine shakes his head.

“Just thinking.”

“Well, be careful.”

Herobrine glares. “Ha ha.”

Steve snickers.

They chat about nothing while Steve eats, then once he’s finished they wander around Copper Edge aimlessly, taking in the sights. He mentions that he has chests upon chests upon chests of emeralds in his bunker, taken absentmindedly from unfortunate victims and ransacked houses. Steve makes a thoughtful sound as they enter a nicer part of the city, the prices of items in the windows a little high for his liking.

Steve is stopped by someone who recognizes him, and as the two talk Herobrine looks at the shop they’re stopped in front of. The window display shows several fancy and expensive looking pieces of jewelry, including rings. He feels his face heat up for no discernible reason, potential scenarios involving rings flashing through his mind quickly. Is it possible for three people to be married? Would that be something they’d even want? Is it something _he_ even wants?

He looks at Steve and thinks, as long as he can spend time with them, it’s enough. He doesn’t need a label or proof of their love, just their kind looks and smiles. Though, if they offered, he’d be a fool to turn them down a second time.

They retire to their room at the inn just as the sun starts it descent below the horizon. Despite their arguably boring day, Herobrine still feels tired when he lays on the bed with a sigh. Not sleepy per say, just exhausted. He lays there in a daze while Steve takes a shower, opening his eyes and sitting up when he hears the bathroom door open.

His face is instantly red when he takes in Steve’s nearly nude state, the younger wearing only his underwear as he stands before Herobrine. He wants to stand up and take Steve into his arms but he also wants to hide his flushed face under the covers and save himself further embarrassment. To Steve, it’s been 27 years since they last saw each other, but to Herobrine, it feels like just yesterday he was prowling through that mineshaft with Alex by his side, on their way to rescue him from the witch. And before that, his and Steve’s mending relationship after he confronted them and revealed the truth. After his heart-to-heart with Alex in the mineshaft, and after Steve’s reaction upon seeing him yesterday, he’d like to think that his place in their hearts is just as secure as their’s in his, but he still has his doubts.

“You know we don’t have to do anything,” Steve points out, apparently able to read his mind.

“I know, but...I feel like I want to....” Herobrine trails off, wringing his hands together and hating feeling so...insecure. Give him danger and conflict any day of the week and he flourishes, but talking about himself and his feelings? He’d rather be stuck in the End fighting the dragon and her endermen.

“And what exactly do you want?” Steve asks, not unkindly. He’s standing in front of Herobrine in only his underwear, hands on his hips and expectant and physically just as vulnerable as Herobrine feels mentally. He lets his eyes wander and thinks, _you_.

Now if only he could articulate that without sounding like the lovestruck fool he is.

“I think I’d like t-to—mm, I’d l-like to—uh...” He stutters as Steve all but _saunters_ up to him, sliding onto his lap when he gets close enough and resting his hands on the back of Herobrine’s neck, his nails scratching through the short hair there and making him shudder.

“What was that?” Steve says smugly, clearly pleased to be able to reduce Herobrine to such a state without much effort.

“I-I mean, you seem to know what you’re doing so...”

“Oh I _definitely_ know what I’m doing.”

Herobrine’s heart is beating fast in his chest. His many years of life, maybe somewhat unbelievably, rarely involved intimacy of any kind with anyone. There had been a time or two when the opportunity arose and he seized it, but he never found the inclination to seek it out. Much like now, these situations usually land in his lap, completely outside of his control. Unlike before, he doesn’t push the other away. He does the opposite—he settles his hands gently on Steve’s waist and doesn’t plan to let go any time soon.

“At least one of us does,” He says, swallowing to wet his dry throat. Steve laughs.

“Well, you can’t blame me.” Steve lowers his eyes and trails his hands down Herobrine’s neck to his shoulders and then his chest. “You make it pretty easy.”

His face heats up, as unused to praise and admiration as he is. He drops his gaze from Steve’s steady one, feeling his mood plummet when he notices the scar on Steve’s shoulder, faded and jagged enough to match the one on Steve’s side. He brings a hand up to brush the skin softly. “Is this from the witch too?” It’s much lighter than the one on Steve’s side, and smaller as well, to his relief. He doesn’t miss that the wound is on Steve’s right shoulder, in a place non-lethal but clearly meant to maximize pain.

Steve’s face falls a bit, likely as put off by the topic as Herobrine is. “Yes. I think I made her mad? I mean, I probably did, knowing me,” Steve chuckles. He leans back a bit, smiling sadly. “Sorry, does it bother you?”

Herobrine lets go so Steve can get up and sit on the bed next to him. He reaches for a shirt, but Herobrine stops him, feeling inexplicit panic in his chest.

“No, you don’t have to cover it up. It doesn’t really bother me, it just reminds me of what happened. It was pretty recent for me, you know? It’ll take a bit for me to get over it.” He doesn’t want to look at Steve and think about what happened, considering it’s been so long for him and Alex and the two have all put erased the event from their minds, but it’ll take a while. He sees those scars and he thinks of how slow he was, how weak to let an enderman cripple him like that, how ignorant to think he could defeat a witch with so little energy.

“I’ll gladly remind you that I’m very much alive anytime you need,” Steve says, leaning into his side and winking. “Just say the word.”

“O-Okay.”

Steve crawls into the bed while Herobrine gets ready, taking his turn in the bathroom, then he joins Steve, laying close like last night and relaxing much quicker and easier. A small part of him expects everything, all of the last several months to be a cruel dream and he’s going to wake up their enemy again. And an even smaller part expects them to turn on him, to laugh in his face as they kill him for believing they had “feelings” for him and can’t believe he fell for their tricks for so long.

But as Steve laces their fingers together again and drifts off to sleep with a quiet “Goodnight,” There’s nothing but love and trust in his heart.

He spends half the night staring at the ceiling, and the other half staring at Steve’s face. He feels both restless and exhausted, his body aching for sleep but his mind unable to rest. He thinks about him and Steve, and him and Alex, and Steve and Alex, and seeing Alex soon, and spending the rest of his life with them and—

It’s a lot. A lot of _good_ , mind, but still a lot.

The sun breaks into their room, landing on the bed and making Steve shift and sigh in his sleep. The room heats up and Herobrine basks in the welcomed changed, holding his hands in the sun to warm them. Spending time with his two humans, he hasn’t been to many deserts or mesas, and he misses the intense heat. Maybe he can convince them to take a trip through the Nether, though he doubts it.

Steve’s finally woken up by the sun hitting his face, grumbling as he sits up and rubs his eyes, staring blearily down at him.

“Good morning,” Herobrine greets, sitting up as well. Steve squints at him. Herobrine feels a flash of empathy for the other—Steve’s not much of an early bird, apparently.

“It will be,” Steve says, yawning and sliding out of bed. “Once I’ve had breakfast and coffee, _Gods_ , I don’t know what I’d do without coffee...” Steve trails off, mumbling to himself as he gets dressed for the day. Herobrine does as well, a lot more subdued than yesterday. That energy he had is starting to turn sour, his anxiousness to see Alex making him feel off.

Steve seems to notice, as they walk out of the inn and into the sunlight.

“Are you okay?” Steve asks, his grogginess from waking up gone, replaced by concern.

“I’m fine,” Herobrine says, though Steve hardly looks soothed. He sighs. “Alright, I’m not _fine_ , but I will be once I see Alex again. I just have a weird feeling, I guess. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Steve hums in thought, as they start walking down the street. “I think you’re lovesick.”

“Lovesick?”

Steve nods. “Yeah. It’s when you miss someone you love so much you stop feeling like yourself.”

“Lovesick...yes, I suppose that is accurate.”

Steve throws an arm over his shoulder, pulling him into a side hug. “Aw, that’s cute. Who knew you were so lovey-dovey.”

Herobrine rolls his eyes, trying to push down the heat rising to his cheeks. Steve chuckles and kisses his cheek, making an exaggerated ‘mwah!’ Probably just to embarrass him further. He makes a show of trying to push Steve away, but Steve just clings harder, and despite the ease with which Herobrine could shove Steve away from him, he allows the contact, perhaps not-so-secretly enjoying it. He even pulls Steve into a full hug, that weird, off feeling receding a bit.

They have breakfast at the same cafe Steve ate at yesterday for lunch. Herobrine actually manages to eat something, much to Steve’s overdramatic shock. He just rolls his eyes and enjoys his small meal while Steve digs into his own with gusto. Of all the things humans do that both astounds and creeps him out the most, eating is fairly high on that list. Some humans eat so much and so...messily, it’s no wonder he doesn’t have much of an appetite. He barely manages to suppress a disgusted expression as he watches Steve eat pancakes, bacon, and bread, mostly everything drowned in syrup. Steve notices his look and makes a sound.

“What?” He says around a mouthful, clueless. Herobrine shakes his head, looking away before he loses what little he’s eaten. He watches people walk by, marveling at their small, short lives, but his musings are interrupted when he spots a flash of familiar orange.

He stands up abruptly, Steve protesting when the table’s jostled and his food slides off his fork and splatters on the plate. He frowns down at it sadly.

Herobrine ignores Steve as he tried to look over the crowd to see Alex more clearly. He vaults over the short rail separating the cafe from the street, shouldering his way through to the other side.

“Alex!”

A little ahead of him, Alex whips around, eyes wide as she searches for him. He waves his arm in the air, his heart doing a little flip when she recognizes him and her face lights up with a brilliant smile. He feels as if he’s had the wind knocked out of him, just from looking at her.

Much like Steve had, she runs at him and tackles him to the ground, cupping his cheeks with her hands and doing her best to suffocate him with a kiss. The feel of her smile against his mouth sends pleasant tingles down his spine. He reaches up and wraps his arms around her back, squeezing tightly.

Time is the least important thing on his mind right now, as he pulls one hand away from her waist to cup her cheek in turn, feeling a laugh bubble out of him unbidden when she sighs happily. Though, they must have been on the ground for a while, because Steve’s suddenly there, shaking his head at them, “Okay, I think that’s enough of that. You guys are making _me_ embarrassed.”

Alex breaks away and looks up at Steve, a devious expression on her face. “Like you aren’t enjoying this?”

“Yeah, me and every other person on this _incredibly busy street_ being forecfully exposed to your debauchery.” Steve walks up to them and holds out his hands, pulling the both of them up. Alex latches onto him, resting her forehead against his.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“But it looks like you were successful,” Alex says, smiling at Herobrine. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“I’m glad as well.” Herobrine returns her smile and gestures down the street. “Why don’t we go to our room at the inn to talk more privately?”

Alex looks at him slyly, licking her lips and making his face flush slightly. “Oh you want to _talk_ privately, is that it?”

Steve shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “You just never quit, do you? Come on you, you’re not fit for the public eye.” He grabs her arm and starts dragging her down the road, to the inn, laughing all the way. Herobrine follows, enjoying the feeling of happiness as he watches their antics.

Despite his pure intentions, Alex’s comment about “talking” privately has him becoming more and more worked up the closer they get. Last night was an eye opener, and throwing Alex into the mix to complete the picture sends pleasant shivers down his spine and has him anxious for more.

Luckily, they have all the time in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Threesome anyone? ;)


End file.
